Demigods, Eh?
by Ignatuis Argetlam
Summary: Nestled in the Canadian Rockies lies a Fanfiction, the likes of which never seen before... a Canadian camp! Venture deep into the mountains and join our charcters on their exciting adventures at Camp Canada!. Rated T for Maple Syrup, Beavers, Polar Bears and Swearing
1. Chapter 1

**This book is dedicated to a good friend.**

**RIP buddy, I hope they serve chocolate milk up in Heaven, don't forget to take care of our little guy.**

Glad you found this book, because you could be in danger.

My name? Tell you later, but first;

If you find no similarities to your life in this book, then go ahead, you may like it. It's got some action, some drama, even a couple laughs. But if you find any similarities, even the smallest detail, check your windows, lock your door, barricade the entrances.

Confront your parents, they might already know. Find your nearest satyr, there's probably one in your school, if he has had suspicions about you he has probably become your friend. Find him and get to your nearest demigod camp. Yes, this means you are a demigod, I'll explain more later. Basically, a demigod means that you are half god. It may mean that you have amazing abilities; it may seem like a great life, but don't envy me and my friends. It's a dangerous life, and few make it into adulthood. But don't worry too much, the people at the demigod camps are the very best in the world and they will train you and keep you safe.

Oh yeah, my name.

My name is Sawyer, Sawyer Solbard.

And this is my story.

**Chapter One**

**The Beginning**

_Thump._

_Swish._

I raised my arms in the air and chanted;

"How does he do it!? How does he do it!?" Nathan simply bowed his head and muttered,

"Son of a B****."

I had thrown a football across our school gym and hit the backboard of the basketball net, then right down through the net. We were supposed to be practicing for ultimate Frisbee but we had decided to try this out first. That had been my first shot.

"Alright, shut up, I think I hear someone calling." Nathan said, we both perked up our ears and listened hard. We heard slow, padding footsteps. We both met each other's eyes and ran as fast as we could towards the stage. We weren't supposed to be in the gym after school, even if we wanted to practice Ultimate Frisbee.

We both reached the stage as we heard the main gym door creak open. As I got closer, I jumped and did an in-air dive. My stomach thumped the stage floor and i penguin-slid under the curtain and onto the stage. Nathan did a sideways pole-vault and rolled under as the person we were running from stepped into the gym.

Peeking under the curtain, the teacher didn't look impressed. The foot ball I had thrown had lost nearly all of its momentum, but was still rolling slightly back and forth. The teacher had stayed to mark papers (or so I guessed) and wasn't happy about being interrupted.

I craned my neck and was able to make out Nathan. The thin line of light streaked across his face, revealing that he was stifling a laugh by clamping his hand over his mouth.

He looked at me and mouthed something. I shook my head, indicating I couldn't see him. After several other tries, I barely heard him whisper;

"_Back door." _Nathan started to army crawl towards the side-door.

I flipped onto my stomach and followed his example. When we were finally there, we still hadn't heard the door close so we were taking no chances.

Flipping onto my feet, I pressed my hand across the crack of the door and pushed against it, then slowly released pressure against it while turning the doorknob and pulled towards me. (An old trick I had perfected). I tucked in the doorway and ran full-out to Nathan's house two blocks away, not waiting for him.

+.+.+.+

I only looked back as I opened up his front door, and surprisingly he was right on my tail. Flopping down on my couch, I let out the laugh I had been holding in the entire way. Nathan lowered himself on the loveseat and followed suit.

"So what are we going to do now?" I asked, bored now.

"Let's go to my house and fire my dad's gun, maybe we can get our hands on his crossbow.

+.+.+.+

"Grab the 2.2 too." Nathan Commented. I grabbed it and a bow of ammo, and went out to the field. This was a small town in central Saskatchewan, so there were lots of those. Nathan and I spent lots of time on farms, my Dad sold fertilizer and his Dad lived in town but farmed with his Grandpa.

We got comfortable on a grassy hill overlooking the field. Yes a field, there were lots of those in western Saskatchewan, especially around Spiritwood, where we lived. Pulling out the .22, I grabbed a handful of bullets. After I filled the magazine with bullets, I shoved it into the hole and looked through the scope.

I tried to hold it steady but my crosshairs drifted back and forth over the cans set up on the fence posts. I pulled the trigger and shot. I cursed and tried several other times, but missed all but once. I stood up and commented,

"This is stupid."

"Oh c'mon, want to try the crossbow?" Nathan suggested cheering me up. My expression lightened as I came up with an idea. I ran into the house without saying anything leaving Nathan calling at em until he realized what i was going to do.

Walking into my dad's study, I turned to the wall and looked at the familiar plaque. I walked towards it and took my father's Smith & Wesson Schofield Model 3 off the hooks. I opened up the top drawer of his desk, where I knew he kept bullets. I saw them, but I noticed some were a darker shade of bronze-gold. Diagnosed with ADHD, the randomest things perked my interest, but this one saved my life. I picked out the bronze-colored bullets, 7 in total, and stuffed them in my pocket.

I turned to Nathan, and smiled when I noticed he had set up new cans on the closer fence.

"Bet I can get it on the first bullet." I offered.

"No way." Nathan countered. I pulled down the front of the gun (top break) and pushed one bullet in all the way with my thumb.

"6 to 1." I smiled cockily spun the drum and flipped the gun back, clicking it back together.

Raising it to eye-level, I squinted and pulled the trigger. It fired and struck the can perfectly, much to my enjoyment. I jumped up and down, raising my arms in the air.

I was interrupted by my dad coming around in the quad. After scolding me for using the guns, he took them all but the revolver and sent us into the house. Nathan came also because his father, Richard, was helping out. We were clearing a patch of trees and burning the brush pile.

"Dad, is Nathan sleeping over!?" if called loudly. He replied by giving a thumbs up in the air, because he was driving away on the quad.

+.+.+.+

_Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun_

"Watch out for the fireball!" I pointed out frantically but Nathan expertly ran out of the way.

_Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun_

"The spikes" I screamed and pointed up. Large deadly looking spiked were closing in on Nathan, he could easily die.

"Run! Run!" if called out. The spikes were too quick though and Jason was impaled, and died.

_Dun-dun-do-do-do-do-dun_

I sat there with my head i my hands muttering, "No, no, it can't be."

Nathan got up and turned off Mario.

"C'mon man if we play any more I swear my eyes will bleed." He said jokingly, stretching his mouth for emphasis on the last word.

"But we got so far!" I begged. Nathan just rolled his eyes at me and went to go and turn off the lights.

I sighed and pulled the edge of the sleeping bag up and shuffled into a comfortable position, then went to bed.

**I do NOT promote playing with guns. That scene was for one purpose, and it wasn't to get kids to play with guns. Guns are not toys and do not shoot them unless you are under adult permission and supervision. Always use protective eyewear and ear protection.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Characters have some fun**

**(Gods help us)**

Sawyer: Normal

Amber:_ Italics_

Riley: **Bold**

Nathan:__**Bold and underline**

You've heard enough of my story, I've decided to entrust more information in you. You know my name is Sawyer Solbard. I absolutely despise my last name, but I love my first name, so I guess they even themselves out. My last name means" brave sun" or something in Greek, Dad told me once but I can't remember. My parents told me they got my first name from a character of _Lost, _I plan on watching it soon.

Next; my appearance and personality. I'm to humble for my own good so I had Amber (explain later) write this bit for me.

_Hey guys, lucky you, you get to hear me talk!_

_So, oh ya, Sawyer. Sawyer has brown, near black hair. It is longer than usual, but not too long, the perfect length. (But not as perfect as my hair!) It gets wavy in the front without him trying; it flings around a little bit, in perfect style. He has chiseled features, a slim face, high cheekbones and a strong jaw line. He has a kind, trusting ace (Mia insists I call him "Hot" but that's not going to happen, not shut up Mia!) Sawyer's face stops at nearly a point at his chin, below his pearly white smile. It's funny really because when he was 10 he got too close to a horse and lost 2 teeth, so 2 of the front 4 are fake. I've decided his smile is definelty magical. He could look at the most pessimistic, sadistic person in the world, and make them crack a grin. He has an aura about him that lights up a room. I swear you can feel it in the back of your brain when he walks in. he's tall for 15, about 6 feet on the dot. His friends bug him sometimes and call him a twig, but he's actually as strong as everyone else, he just doesn't show it and he's too humble to gloat about it. This is because he's just a humble farm boy. Feeding cattle, carrying bags of seed, chores in general muscled his body. He's got a budding 6-pack, and if he wants to he can really flex his arms, he also- wait, whoa, was i ranting! Gods I'm turning into Katie, Ow, not the hair!)_

_(Ok, ok Riley! Here's the keyboard!)_

**G'day mate! Just kidding, I'm not Australian, I'm Albertan, Eh? Just kidding again. I swear when Americans say "Eh" to me I feel like levitating them over a cliff by the ear, it's so annoying! We don't say it at the end of every sentence! Got that? So we will have a quick side lesson on the proper use of "Eh." Oh, you're a grammar master? Then skip the fricken aside stupid.**

**Use #1: a replacement for Correct, or right**

**Ex: you scored an 87 on that test, eh?**

**Ex: you scored an 87 on that test, Correct?**

**Ex: Your car cost 7 000$, eh?**

**Ex: Your car cost 7 000$, right?**

**Make sense? Ok next.**

**Use #2 a replacement for "what?"**

**Ex: (in a loud shop or street square)**

"**Hey Marshall, want to discuss Quantum Mechanics?"**

"**Eh?"**

"**I said want to discuss Quantum Mechanics" (louder)**

"**Oh, I didn't hear you, and most indefinitely."**

**Hey Marshall, want to discuss Quantum Mechanics?"**

"**What?"**

"**I said want to discuss Quantum Mechanics" (louder)**

"**Oh, I didn't hear you, and most indefinitely."**

**Get it? Got it? Good! Now if you ever ridicule an eh-user or use it in a improper context I will sick the Grammar Police on you! (The Grammar Police is pretty much Owen, because no one else gives a big enough damn to correct people except for him.) Now to discuss-wait, Nathan, NO!**

**Whew, you're welcome for saving you from that Hades. (Yes it was!) Since I've known him longest by far, (stalking doesn't count Katie-Ow!) so I'll describe his personality and really him as a person now. Sawyer is very proactive and enthusiastic. That last one isn't the word I'm looking for, tip of my tongue, I swear, motivated! That's the word. He's never told a secret in his life and you can trust him with your back, so he's one of the most honest and loyal people you'll meet. He's extremely kind and polite, especially in front of adults. Speaking of adults, I know truckloads of people that would rather take an arrow to the knee than speak in front of an adult, but not sawyer. Sure as Hades not Sawyer. He talk in front of an assembly of adults until he gets tired of hearing his own voice, which he never does. Place him in front of his peers and he doubles talkativeness. He loves to give his opinion but he's not stubborn, so he knows when to admit he's wrong. He's not stubborn or proud, he pretty steady headed until you piss him off. If you do, run. So he's all these things but he doesn't give himself half the credit he should because he's too modest for his own good, I'll grow him out of that soon enough. So since he grew up on a farm, he'll work till his fingers bleed without complaining. He will shovel a grain bin worth of snow in the winter, and like any job, you don't get tired. Even if you are tired, you sure as Hades aren't complaining about it. Those are pretty much the laws of the farm life. So humble, motivated, proactive, honest, loyal, kind, polite, steady-headed, and talkative, that pretty much covers it. He's like Shrek, and onions, "lots of layers."**

**So when did the great adventure of Sawyer start? Well, I don't know exactly where your at, but ill talk about the dance, where the real action started.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Well that was awkward, but its ok, we can finally get back to the story. So, where were we, the dance! Maybe we can start a little farther back, alight here we goes!

Sawyer's POV

"Hey, Henry!" Luke

"What?"

"let's see if my brother can guess how much that blower was?"

"If don't know Luke, 6?"

"3, we should buy it!"

If there was a vote for most likely to succeed, Luke would win hands down, he's such an entrepreneur. He has started his own snow-blowing business and had actual machinery, so he cleared entire farmyards. His dad was the rink maintenance man, so Luke knew the downstairs "catacombs" of the rink, where all the machinery was kept and ice maintaining was done, like the back of his hand. His dad was also fire chief, so he was trained to be a junior firefighter and had to miss school sometimes for it. Last year he decided that the only local DJ sucked, so he reached into his savings and bought several thousand dollars of DJ equipment and set out to make dances more enjoyable. Enjoyable he did make them, we hired him for all the dances and he knew all the recent songs and played whatever someone wanted. All of this earned him truckloads of respect, even from the most rebellious grade 12 boy. By the time I'm done describing him the bell has rung and we have moved from the library to the IA lab.

Slipping DC's on, I walked into the IA lab and found Luke was already at work. Luke had found several scrap pieces of wood and already had the biscuit grinder out. After several moments, I realized he was making a crossbow. Yes, definelty a crossbow. I could easily point out the stock and bow, made of different woods of different elasticity.

Luke pulled a pen knife out of his pocket and made a makeshift hole in a strangely-shaped forked piece of wood. He shoved a short metal rod through it and a pencil. After several more moments I realized this was the trigger, which went in a vertical hole all the way through. Pull the trigger, which pulls down the pencil which holds the string. String pushes the arrow out of the crossbow and fires it. Simple as that. The amazing thing is that he did it all in less than 5 minutes. He was pure genius. He lifted it to his eye and fired the makeshift arrow, which struck a piece of plywood on its side and stayed there, halfway through it. The rest of IA class was uneventful; Luke ran the class, just like every day.

In next class, science, we were doing experiments with electricity. I was at the end of the line; we were all holding hands with the first person's hand on a mini Tesla Coil. Everyone but we was standing on rubber bins, so I was supposed to get shocked. Strangely, when Riana touched the metal sink, nothing happened. Everyone stared at me.

"Must be my new shoes." I explained, holding my foot up since I couldn't indicate with my hand. "They have rubber in the soles." After a chorus of oh's, the bell rang and I went to art. At art, we were doing singing, (Awesome!) and I sung the heck out of the class and aced it all, as usual. We had double art, and I made an awesome poem and aced that class too. Finally in science, we grew bean plants. Amazingly mine grew 4 times as fast as anyone else's when I focused on it.

After the bell finally rang, I got all my stuff ready and went to walk out of the classroom doorway, slinging my messenger style bag over my shoulder, when Jordan blocked it off and threw a toque over his shoulder as a joke. He had blocked of the doorway so that the toque's owner, Ty, wouldn't get it. As Ty pushed against Jordan's arms to no avail, I reached down to grab it for him. Sadly, Devan wrapped his arm around my neck and held me back, jokingly. After a struggle, I did a quick twist out of his grip. Halfway through the twist, I snatched Ty's toque and threw it in the air, which he caught and ran away laughing.

+.+.+.+

_Around the back, flip through the hole, tuck it down, there!_

After seemingly hours, I had finally mastered the Double Windsor tie knot. Slipping my belt through the loops and finishing my outfit, I examined myself in the mirror, constantly flattening and pulling on different places, unsatisfied.

I was wearing a slightly light blue, long sleeved shirt with a soft, white tie. I also had black dress pants, a black leather belt and new dress shoes. I started to get to work on my hair when Nathan burst in and did a spin on his heels. He finished facing me with his hands in little "finger guns" and "shot" them both at me with raised eyebrows.

"How will they resist you?" I said sarcastically, no emotion in my voice. He was wearing a matching outfit but light pink shirt and black tie.

(I'm sorry, I'll start writing again in a second, I just need a moment.)

**Amber here, im just going to write what Sawyer tells me becuase N-... you'll find out soon enough.**

"Shave that dust off." He joked, indicating the shadow of a mustache that was growing on my lip.

"Har har." I commented, grabbing a razor from the shelf. We both fiddled with ourselves for another half hour until we decided we were going to be late if we waited any longer. Walking to the porch, I grabbed in jacket on the way and threw it over my shoulder, which he caught in the air and slid it on. He snatched my jacket from the back of the kitchen chair and threw it at me, which I turned and caught.

As I walked out the front door and the cold air stung at my face like a whip, but I quickly accustomed to it and walked beside Nathan. This dance was going to be awesome, there was a senior girls volleyball tournament, even though it was the last week of school they were good friends with the teams. They had all got together and planned it, so there were sleeping over at our school, which happened to be hosting a dance that night. I walked through the doors and held it open for Nathan, joking;

"Ladies first."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Sawyer's POV**

As we walked in, we kicked off our shoes and handed our jackets to the waiting teacher. Nathan handed me his money and walked in. I paid for both, and then jogged to catch back up to him.

When I met him, I stopped running and smiled at the gym. It was dark, but Luke had set up several light machines. Stars and circles spiraled around the walls and floor, randomly gathering together then exploding back out to meander around again. Currently_ Footloose_ was playing. Me and Nathan met eyes and smiled, we knew the routine to this song. We ran to the middle of the dance floor, where the people who knew the dance danced while the rest of the crowd stood back and watched. We slid into the middle of the line just as the last chorus played.

_Now we gotta cut loose, Footloose._

We joined the line, shuffling with our feet to the left. Next, I hopped on to one foot, and then switched to the next, raising the opposite arm as I went.

_Kick off your Sunday shoes._

Lots of finger snapping, arm shaking and foot shuffling later, the song finished and me and Nathan high-fived on our way by, then turned and did the jellyfish finish.

+.+.+.+

We slowly stepped back to the wall and assessed the crowd. I moved my head around to get a better look while adjusting my tie.

"Blonde and brunette, 2 o'clock, hanging by the Royals logo." Nathan pointed. I nodded my head in agreement.

"Blonde, dibs." I called out.

"You can have her, brunette is mine." Nathan offered

"Will Ferrell?"

"Yup." Nathan and me fist-pumped quickly and walked over. I faced my back to the blonde, who was idly talking to her friend.

"Blades of Glory was amazing!" I started

"You're kidding me, right? Have you seen Land of the Lost?" Nathan countered. I went to do a across, horizontal, hand chop, signalling _No way_ but I "accidentally" took a big step back and ran into the blonde.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry." I began to the blonde, who smiled at me.

"My friend just got excited in his stupid argument." Nathan piped in, pushing me slightly back and stepping forward. The girls smiled. The blonde (which I called dibs on) was about 5'8, 4 inches shorter than me. She had light black streaks in her hair which reached a couple inches past her armpits. She had deep brown eyes, a sharp nose and a nice smile.

"Let's let them decide." I said to Nathan.

"What was Will Ferrell's best movie?" we asked simultaneously. After about 5 seconds with a thinking face on, the brunette offered, "I'll have to say Step Brothers."

"Blades of Glory." The Blonde admitted

"I'd love to keep talking to you boys but we have to go! Sorry!" the brunette said and they both left.

"Well, that had to be the worst outcome you can get other than getting slapped." Nathan offered.

"You speak from experience?" I joked. He just nodded with a smile.

"Shorty and the Dancer" I pointed out. One girl had to be 5' 2 and the other was dancing her socks off alone.

"I'll take the dancer." I offered

"No way man I saw her first." We began a war, leaning closer with each statement.

"I call dibs."

"Gamble."

"Stamp."

"Double stamp."

"Triple stamp, swipe."

"Triple stamp, double swipe, no returnsies."

"Infinite Gamble, slap." Nathan cursed and gave up. We walked inconspicuously across the dance floor. We waited near them until they were both facing away from us.

I stood beside the dancer and asked,

"Do you have a band aid? I hurt my knee when I fell for you." She turned to me and we shared a laugh. Back to back with the dancer was Shorty, I heard Nathan do his best,

"You must be a parking ticket, because you've got fine written all over you." With a loud _Crack_, Shorty slapped him across the cheek. I stifled a laugh with my fist, and then turned my attention back to Dancer.

Her name was Jen, she was from Macklin, and she was here for volleyball, 15 and a great dancer. I was about to ask her more, when the dance circle formed.

"Be right back!" I called. Dancing circles were the best part of dances; me and Nathan teamed up and ruled them all. Walking up, I took the place opposite Nathan and gave him a thumps up. There wasn't much talent, until Party Rock anthem came on. We waited until the best part, stepping out in the circle together; we high-fived in the center then took our positions. We sat there tapping our foot until the lyric came up.

When the pause came me and Nathan stood with our heads down and put up one finger, a _wait_ signal.

_Everyday I'm Shuffling._

The tune started and Nathan and I did our perfected shuffle. With our feet flying, we sped up our pace.

I thought I would choke for sure; I was trying to go through the pattern in my head faster. But I choked and fell down. Luckily I recovered and covered it up with the breakdance shoulder spin.

Getting back up, we circled each other, keeping the beat with our feet and shoulders. We passed by each other, and then when we turned around I kept track of time of my fingers, pulling them into my chest with every count.

_1, 2, 3_

We both took two big steps then did front flips in the air. We left the circle to a chorus of cheers.

I was sweating hard when I grabbed a seat on the bench outside the gym. I looked over and saw Nathan was panting as much as I was. Reaching over, we did a tired high-five.

"Man… we were awesome: I managed to say between gasps.

"Yeah… nice save… when you fell down." Nathan complimented. We had been dancing lots so we stayed there and caught our breath.

"Let's get back out there." I said, standing up. Nathan agreed. I was readjusting my shirt when I heard a bloodcurdling scream rise above the music. No one else seemed to her it so Nathan and I bolted past the office and outside without giving it a second thought.

+.+.+.+

We were met with a strange scene when the doors closed behind us. There was a girl and a guy fighting a strange beast. When I mean fighting, I mean actually fighting. The guy had a large shield and sword while the girl had a whip. I realized the scream had come from a student who had seen this.

I ran up to them, when I realized the guy was Luke was the guy.

"Luke! What's happening?" Luke recognized my voice without turning his head.

"Not the best time- Umph!" the figure slammed something into Luke's shield, but he held his ground. Nathan went to go deal with the student but I asked them both, "how can I help?"

The girl furiously turned around, spinning her jet-black hair around her head. She reached in her pocket and threw me a small metal object, then continued to jump around the thing; I jumped every time she cracked her whip at the figure. I caught the object, but I didn't look at it, I had to get a closer look at the thing.

I ran around the edges so I wouldn't be in danger. It had a humanoid shape, about 10 feet tall. When it moved closer into the light of the lamps, I got a good look. It had yellow skin, and thick arms ending in sharp, black claws. It had complicated armour on, with many different plates and chain hanging randomly. His hands were encased in wrapping and he was holding a large club. Upon closer inspection I realized it was metal, and formed in the shape of a human head, gross!

The girl turned around again and commanded,

"Do something!" I couldn't stand here like this, I would remember this for my entire life if I survived, and I don't want to remember me sitting here the entire time. I looked; the object she threw me was a lighter with **ILVIS** carved into the side. I went around and grabbed a short stick, hoping to make a torch. Taking my handkerchief, I wrapped it around the end.

I was in position to light it, I struck the lighter twice, and my torch was aflame.

_This is cool, but I wish I could really fight, something like a spear._ Without thinking, I struck the lighter, and suddenly it wasn't a lighter. It turned into a cylinder and elongated into a two meter long spear made of shiny metal, tipped off with an elaborate spearhead.

I clutched it with two hands and slowly stepped towards the monster. With a mighty swing, he knocked Luke of his feet, and he didn't get up. The girl stepped back, now defenceless and distractionless. The monster set its black eye on me and sprinted towards me. You'd think something of that size might be clumsy but it was an athlete.

Suddenly, I wasn't me. It was like I was watching something through someone else's eyes, kind of like spectator mode on a first-person shooter. Dreaming was a good thing to compare it to, if you really willed an action upon yourself, then it might happen, any other time, no dice.

The monster ran towards me and my body did the last thing I expected it to, it played chicken with the thing. I sprinted faster than I thought I could and I reached the running hunk of muscle. At the last second I veered to the left and held my spear with two hands in front of the monsters foot. He stumbled, but recovered and didn't fall.

The girl with the whip met my eyes and somehow I knew exactly what she wanted to do, distract it so she could get in close.

I ran up to it again, except this time I dropped my torch, stuck the tip in the ground and pole-vaulted up. I nearly flew over his shoulder but at the last second I stabbed my spear into his shoulder, anchoring me. As he was distracted, the girl furiously started whipping it. I noticed wherever she hit it; it burned like you had laid a red-hot iron bar across it.

The monster really hated this; he flung me off his shoulder with a twist of his body and advanced upon the girl. In a last second action, I picked up my fallen spear and hurled it with the experience of a two-time silver provincial Javelin champion, which I was.

It hit him hard in his back, opposite his heart. It went in so deep, the tip slightly poked out the other side.

The monster struggle to stay on its feet it was in so much pain. Then it noticed something on the ground. With one last, vengeance-filled smile directed towards me, he picked up my fallen torch and his mace, ran over to the nearest school bus and hammered his mace into the gas tank. The girl knew what was coming and tried to flee.

"No!" I screamed, desperately following the girl back into the school, but it was too late. The monster stuck the torch into the tank and a huge explosion ensued.

The last thing I remember was a huge ball of fire, the monster turning to dust, and then everything went blank like a sheet of paper.

+.+.+.+

Something cold landed on my forehead. I was completely unaware of my surroundings; it took awhile just to realize I was lying down. I dared not stir, it was safest not to move. Slowly I regained my senses, starting with touch, next hearing.

"-might not make it, the explosion nearly threw him 10 meters."

"We are short, we will heal him if he makes it or not, alive or dead." The one voice was familiar, but my brain was scrambled so I couldn't place them. Without thinking I slowly opened my eyes a crack. They must have been close awhile, because everything was one big blur. I thought opening my eyes all the way would fix it, but it didn't.

"He's opening his eyes!' the familiar voice called out. I felt fingers close my eyes then a hand placed on my forehead,

"Sleep." It was said like a command, and for some reason I listened. My body fell into the deepest sleep I have ever slept.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I bolted awake. I sat up and frantically looking around for the girl, Luke and especially the monster, but they weren't there. I was in a very different place from the concrete walk in front of the school.

First of all, I was in a small room, there was no one around but me. After a closer look, I realized I was in a log house. It consisted of a bed, which I was in, a bench on one wall, and a window spewing in sunshine, revealing that it was day. I looked down and I wasn't wearing my dance clothes, someone had changed them... awkward.

I was wearing a green t-shirt, comfortable jeans and thick socks. I recognized them as alpaca socks; someone in my class raised the animals and always had them. I looked down and my t-shirt, it had a black design of a Ram rearing of its hind legs with long, circling horns.

A wet sensation went up my left hand, which was hanging over the bed. I pulled it back and looked over the edge to reveal the culprit.

It was a large, hairy, slobbering, smiling, St. Bernard. It was sitting down, looking at me with those big brown eyes, panting with its tongue out. I did the opposite most people would do.

"Aren't you just adorable!" my voice hit an unusual high. I reached and gave the dog a big hug. Most people don't like them because of the slobber and size, but I love all dogs. The dog hopped up on my bed and layed down beside me, where I continued to pet it and sit in the sun.

"Molly." I read from its collar

All of a sudden, I re-realized my situation. I got out of bed, only to find comfortable alpaca slippers. Without thinking, I put them on and explored the house, with Molly happily padding behind.

The house turned out to be a chalet, made of wood with a gently sloping roof, well-supported eaves and a wrap-around balcony. It was two-floors, with several other bedrooms with personal balconies up top. The main room was huge, where all the bedrooms connected to. It was two stories tall, so it had the staircase to get to the top floor. Inside, there was a dinner table, an absolutely huge grizzly bear rug, a large fireplace, a set of couches and many potted plants. I went out to step out the front doors, but a man came in.

He was about 6' 4, full of muscle, and appeared to be in his 40's. He wore a grey muscle shirt and black windbreakers, clothing to enjoy the sun outside. He has some stubble, along with longer-than usual sideburns. To be honest he reminded me of Wolverine.

I went to go around him but he grabbed my shoulders and I looked him in the eyes.

"Whoa Nelly." He said slowly, his voice was deep and trusting. Right then and there, panic hit me.

_I was kidnapped! I'm in a strange place_

"Where's my parents! What province am I in! What country am I in! I need to get out of here." I frantically shook, trying to get out of his grip.

"We will explain everything, just take a seat." He led me to the couches with very strong hands to keep me from running away.

"Luke! You had better come here!" the man called out, sitting me down on the sofa, and sitting beside me. Luke! He was the only thing that made sense! Wait, Luke was at the explosion, were these connected somehow? Did Luke bring me here? A million questions raced through my head, all desperately trying to get out at the same time.

Luke appeared and approached me the way he would approach an injured animal.

"Hey buddy. How you holding out." He said very slowly, gently lowering himself on the loveseat.

"Luke" I said frantically. "Where am I?"

"Phil and I will explain everything, your safe now." He answered just as slow.

"Alright, we are prepared to answer all your questions." The one called Phil said, leaning back and putting his hands together.

"Where did the monster go? What was that? Why was it at Spiritwood?"

"The monster died in the explosion that knocked you out, it is called a berserker, and they are spread across North America, if you know where to look." Luke answered in one long sentence.

"How did my lighter make a spear? Where's the girl? Why didn't I feel like myself when I fought it?" I said at Luke, but Phil answered.

"The girl, Rebecca by the way, is here with us." He spread his arms, indicating outside. "That lighter is magic, laugh if you will, it turns into several different weapons when you want it to, then strike it. And, I think the last question we will save for last." Phil said, nodding at Luke for the last sentence.

"What province am I in? What country am I in?" I asked Phil, deciding to give him a chance. Phil took a long sip of coffee form a large mug, then answered,

"You are in British Columbia, Canada, more specifically I a remote location in the southern Rocky Mountains." One last question popped out in my head. I spun towards Luke.

"Where's Nathan?" I asked. Luke didn't answer, he just looked down.

"Where's Nathan?" I repeated, standing up.

"Nathan was killed by the berserker; he made it to here, but...not for long." Phil said with some difficulty.

I fell back down on the couch; Luke put his hand on my shoulder attempting to comfort me. I started to choke on air, barely able to breathe, and then the tears came. I sat there for a little bit, bawling with my head in my hands, Luke's hand patting me on the back.

My best friend, we did everything together. Memories flashed through my brain, each one only taking seconds.

_Nathan desperately holding my feet as we reached for the cookie jar on the top shelf, me and Nathan playing soldiers in the backyard, us pouring our hearts out to each other on every topic known to man._

_Gosh, I spent more time with Nathan than I didn't. We did everything together, I mean everything. We had a drawer of each other's clothes at our houses, as kids we left some of our favorite toys at each house so we wouldn't have to do without them, gosh..._

Phil and Luke were very patient. Luke sat there, patting my back and Phil went to get me some tissue. Molly hopped up o the couch and laid her head on my lap to comfort me.

After a long time, I got a hold of myself.

"You said you were going... going to answer that question last." I managed to get out.

"Ahh yes, better late than never." Phil said. He got comfortable in his chair, which I took as it was going to be a long answer.

"You fought so well because you are a demigod. One of your parents, which we have yet to find out, is actually a Greek god. You see, the gods moved from place to place. The Greek gods, Roman, all of the others throughout time are actually the same ones by the same name. Currently, they reside in the center of civilization, North America. Locations change too, Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods, is on top of the Empire State building. Another example, the underworld entrance is in Los Angeles, by San Francisco is Mt. Orthys, home of the Titans-"

"What, no Canadian locations?" I joked, petting Molly's large head.

"Yes, we get the backseat as usual, but we have to deal with it." He answered with a smile. "So, yes Demigod. Demigods and monsters are mortal enemies, they kill each other on sight. It has been this way for years. Because of this, not many demigods survived, at least until the camps. First came Camp Half-Blood, located on Long island. Next, Camp Jupiter was constructed in San Francisco. Lastly came Camp Canada-"

"Where's that?" I said, suddenly excited.

"Um, tell you later." Luke answered. Phil continued his speech.

"So these camp train demigods to survive in a harsh world. As a demigod, you can read and speak ancient Greek."

"_How well do you think he speaks Greek?" _Luke asked Phil.

"_Doubtful I speak it at all, I've never done it in my life."_ I answered

"Well, he's definelty a demigod." Luke said with a laugh. I didn't understand, then I realized the short conversation we had was in Greek.

"Continue." I told Phil, making a physical effort to speak English.

"Let me finish this time please!" He started with a laugh. "As a demigod, you also are probably diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia. This is because you mind is tuned for battle and Ancient Greek. Also, you will retain some of your godly parent's powers. Example, Aphrodite camper's are always worried about looks, Apollo cabin loves archery and poetry. Also, ancient monsters and heroes still exist. For example, Medusa and the Minotaur are still alive and roaming the world. Also, Chiron works at Camp Half Blood, and Philocetes works at Camp Canada."

"Who is he?' is aid, then realized I had interrupted him. Phil looked hurt, but he said,

"Philocetes was a great hero, he trained Hercules himself! He taught the famous man everything he knew, and when he died he received Hercules's poison bow and arrows." My eyes drifted to the quiver I hadn't noticed on Phil's back.

"Philocetes." I announced.

"Good job!" Philocetes congratulated me. "But I prefer Phil."

"So...Phil, does that mean-"

"Yes, welcome to Camp Canada." He said ceremoniously. I looked down at my shirt, and sure enough. Underneath the goat, written in ancient Greek was **CAMP CANADA.**

"I think that's about it, eh Phil?"

"Yes, I think you should show him around now, he's ready." Phil announced.

Luke and I stepped outside, and my eyes fell on the glory of Camp Canada for the first time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_Wow_

There were no real words to describe the camp, but I'll try.

First things first, Luke, and I went over to the stables to grab some horses. I wasn't a big fan of this but I decided to give the animals another chance. It was about 200 meters to the Stables, so I got a good look at it.

It was pretty basic, just a long building full of stalls and a large equipment shed that also held feed.

Luke told me to wait outside, and then he came out leading two horses.

"This one is a stallion and this one is a gelding. They are both males, but geldings are usually a little less wild and easier to control." He let go of one of the reins and brought a coffee brown gelding to me. "Charlie." He told me.

I put one foot on the stirrup, and then I got some momentum and hauled myself up.

"Every camper has the choice of his own horse; they use them for war games and lessons." Luke explained. We began to ride towards the entrance, where we would start our tour.

"War games?" I inquired, struggling to control my horse.

"I'll tell you about the activities when we get to their locations." Luke said. We merged onto the road as we neared the gate. The basic floor plan of Camp Canada is that it is in a square valley. On every corner except for the top-left, there is a mountain. In the top left corner, there's a forest that keeps going far outside the camp borders. The camp borders worked just like the other camps, monsters couldn't get inside the square made by the three mountains and an imaginary corner in the forest. The gate covered the entire area between the bottom mountains, and a ridge connected the right ones.

"We are always cautious about going in the forest because there are places monsters can go freely." Luke continued. "And here we are." We had arrived at the gate.

It was completely made of wood, more specifically saplings. All of them were about the size that you could barely fit your hands around them. It stood about 15 feet tall with an area where you could stand. It was made similar to bleachers, with vertical supports and diagonal supports connecting them. You could barely see these because they had placed wood all along the back. The gate was made by poking holes in the logs and fitting smaller ones through them. Around the front, there were many finely sharpened logs sticking out of the ground at a perfect angle to keep monsters out, like an abatis.

"The road from the gate forks, the left road goes to the Combat Ring, the Stables, and the War games area. The right road goes to the Mess Hall, Chalet, Infirmary, hot springs, cabins, smithy, garrison, archery range and both roads meet again at the activities shed." Luke explained. I nodded, a map starting to appear in my head.

Instead of going into detail, I made some notes about all the areas.

**Combat Ring**

-Made like a mini coliseum

-Where all combat lessons are located

**Mess Hall**

-Where the campers eat, a table for each cabin and one for the staff

-Similar in shape to the Chalet

**Infirmary**

-Small building with medical supplies

-Maintained by Apollo cabin

**Hot springs**

-Small change building

-Natural mountain hot springs

**Cabins**

-Basic Olympians plus Hecate and Nike

-No honorary cabins, except for Zeus because he is king of the gods

-all cabins are basic log cabins, they differ only in color

1. Demeter- grass green

2. Apollo- gold

3. Ares- scarlet

5. Aphrodite- pink

6. Hermes- beige

**(I didn't understand why Hermes cabin was beige, but it turns out it's the colour of an envelope)**

7. Athens- deep gray

8. Dionysus- dark purple

9. Hecate- bright purple

10. Nike- laurel green

11. Zeus- only cabin that is different, white with yellow lightning bolts

**Archery Range**

-Near Garrison for easy access of bows and arrows

**River**

-Runs through the camp

-Rapids of varying difficulty

**Activities Shed**

-Holds mountaineering equipment, kayaks, etc.

**War Games Area**

-Where the campers play war games

-Pirates- similar to capture the flag but several flags spread around territories

-Man tracker- several horseback campers have to get other campers on foot before they reach an objective

-Domination- there's several flagpoles, objective is to keep your flag on the pole

**Smithy**

-One of two stone buildings in entire camp

-Has different forging stations

-Uses mostly the Canadian blessed metal, Ballistic Iron

**Garrison**

-Other stone building

-Wall mounts and barrels holding weapons

-Spears, clubs, swords, daggers, shields and even various other weapons

As we passed by each location of them, Luke described the lessons to me.

**Mountaineering**

-Teaches hiking and climbing skills with and without equipment

**Logging**

-Bringing in logs from the forest to fuel the camp fireplaces

**Kayaking**

-River rapid kayaking down the camp river

**Archery**

-Apollo cabin shows you basics of archery and proper use of bows

**Horseback lessons**

-Basics of riding a horse in and out of combat.

**Monster Assault**

-Teaches you about monster, heir strengths, weaknesses and techniques to kill them

**Forging**

-Learn about weapons and make your own with Hephaestus cabin

**Combat Healing**

-Apollo cabin shows you basics on how to dress wounds, etc.

"I believe... that that is all! You are officially a camper here at Camp Canada!"

"Um, Luke." I asked, manuvering Charlie around a stump.

"Yeah"

"Why-"I was interrupted by a loud roar, just listening to it made me want to run away. Much to my surprise, I instinctively reached in my pocket.

_Gods, I've used it once!_ I thought to myself. I looked around for the source of the roar and I found it came from the cabins.

Deciding to step outside my comfort zone, I slapped my horse on the rump and tucked low in the saddle as he sped off into a run.

As we neared the cabins, I found the scene quite strange. A blonde boy with a sword still strapped to his back, a purple dragon, and two people with red-bandana armed to the teeth were fighting, although I had yet to figure out the "teams".

Without realizing it, this was my first view of the other campers. They had come to gather in the grassy area in front of the cabins, all wearing camp T-shirt.

With a move that looked like he was trying to give a high-five to a giant, the blonde boy sent the purple dragon towards the two boys. It wasn't really a dragon; well it looked exactly like what you would expect out of one. Expect for one thing, it was only 5 feet tall.

One of the boys from the "red team" reached to a nearby stump, and with no difficulty pulled out a large axe. With one mighty throw, it went right through the dragon and it disappeared.

Just to be sure, I grabbed Ilvis out of my pocket.

_Anything in particular will do. _I thought and struck it. It elongated into a large, ram warhorn. Apparently it had a sense of humor. I found a small leather strap on the warhorn and hooked it on a belt loop.

Although he hadn't done anything physically, the blonde boy was already drenched in sweat. With a mighty turn, he did a move that looked like he was trying to push up against a wall that wasn't there. Out from his hands, a spiral of sparks appeared they continued out and enlarged into a rope of fire. He did some more fancy moves that reminded me of kung-fu, each one moving the rope around.

The Red Team didn't know what to do, they wanted to attack they boy but had to deal with the fire. The boy continued to flow the fire in a strangely graceful way. He had his eyes closed and it looked like he was focusing hard.

Tai-Chi! That's what the boy was doing, not kung-fu! All of a sudden he stopped, he flashed open his eyes and threw the large fire rope at them.

It moved and changed into different shapes, but settled on a web-net looking thing just before it landed.

Surprisingly, it sizzled to a stop just before the larger of the two's shield. The boy was so tired; he looked like he could hardly stand. The two red boys ran towards him, closing in for the kill. I tried to get off my horse to help him, but Luke put a hand on my shoulder and shook his head. Instead, Luke pulled out his falchion and flicked his horse's reins.

He got there right before they got to the boy. Luke pulled back on the reins, and then brought his horse and his sword down between them, making a large dust-cloud. It had knocked all three of them down, but the boy who was almost killed only looked pleased.

"I owe you one." He stated, holding out his hand to Luke.

"When you stop picking fights I'll hold you to it, Riley." Luke answered with a smile, taking the offered hand and helping him off his feet.

I trotted over to them slowly and inquired,

"What was that?"

"That, was Ares Cabin." Riley stated, as if it explained everything. "Apparently they didn't get beaten badly enough when we played Mantracker." He continued. Only then did he truly notice me.

"This what you went to the prairies for?" he asked, gesturing towards me with his thumb

'Sure did, I just give him the grand tour." Luke answered, hopping off his horse, I shortly followed suit.

"Um, Luke, it's getting dark, where do I sleep? I don't know who my godly parent is."

"Well, if a cabin doesn't offer to be a surrogate, you're welcome to-"

"No need, welcome to Hecate Cabin. I'm the counselor Riley, you are?"

"Sawyer, Sawyer Solbard." I said, and offered a handshake, which he took. Riley took his sword off his back, and I realized it was a bright purple katana. Everything, even the blade, was different shades of purple. He shoved the tip in the ground and used it as an elbow-rest.

I got into Hecate Cabin and was relieved to fin it completely normal. It just had bunk-beds, trunks and a warm fireplace. I took an empty bed on the top bunk, and then I realized the roof. It must have been enchanted; it showed the current state outside. Right now, the roof was black, but it also had milky strands going through it, as if someone was slowly stirring it.

I closed my eyes, tried to imagine I was in a different place, and slowly went to sleep before anyone else.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I flashed open my eyes to the morning sky. My body rose slightly off the bed as my mind trailed off.

_Did I sleep outside? The last thing I remember is the explosion, did I-_ at that moment all of yesterday flooded into my head.

_Camp Canada_.

It seemed like deep in my brain, I had known those two words all along, and they felt right when they came off my tongue.

The roof was a perfect, blue, morning sky; rays of sunlight even hit me and felt heavenly.

_Gods I love the sun, it's so invigorating!_ I sat there enjoying the sun when a ram horn blew. The campers sleepily got dressed and filed out the door.

Riley's bed was the only one that wasn't a bunkbed, it had blankets and pillows that were thicker, I guessed he brought them from home. He sat there with his blankets around him and his face stuffed in his pillows, apparently not a morning person.

"Sawyer." I heard muffled from his bed so I stopped and walked over to it. He pulled his face out of the pillows and spoke slowly,

"Get a schedule from Phil." Then face planted the pillows again. I assumed he was in the Chalet, so I headed out there, first grabbing Ilvis and my watch.

Luckily, Phil was sitting outside the cabins with his arms crossed, making sure all the kids filed out of bed, when he saw me his face lit up.

"There's the noob!"

"What?" I asked, very confused

"It's a camp tradition, the newest camper is called the noob until a new camper comes, don't worry it's all in good fun. Plus it's just about the end of school so plenty of kids will come soon."

"I um, need a schedule."

"Oh yes!" he protrude don e from a messenger bag on his shoulder and showed it to me. "Since Hecate is your surrogate cabin, you will be with them until you are claimed." He noticed my worried face.

"Don't worry! Nearly all campers get claimed in their first day. In the meantime, have some fun!"

I nodded and followed where all the other campers were walking, The Mess Hall, I guessed.

Before I shoved the schedule in my pocket, I gave it a good look over. It all looked pretty cool except for magic class, which Luke had forgotten in my orientation. I pondered what I would do during it when I noticed a familiar face. I jogged over and tapped her on the shoulder without thought; it was the girl from the dance with the whip

"Um hey, it's me." I said nervously, she raised an eyebrow at me. "Remember? The dance? The Berserker?"

"Yeah, I remember you." She said quietly.

"I never got the chance to introduce myself, my name is Sawyer." I said with a smile and held out my hand. She took it carefully, as if made of glass. I looked her in the eyes, her were hazel, but almost green. She wore a green tank top with the camp logo over a white one, sandy capris, and black converse.

"Nice to meet you Sawyer." She said, barely audible over the other campers, she played with the tip of her braid, reflecting her own nervousness.

"Oh!" I reached in my pocket and held out Ilvis on my palm. "This is yours."

"It's your now, a welcoming gift." She closed my hand and pushed it back with a smile, then ran off. Rebecca seemed sweet, but also shy. She hadn't even told me her name, I only knew it from Phil. I realized I was last in the crowd and ran to the Mess Hall

Stepping in to the Mess Hall, I quickly pointed out Hecate table, which was coloured the same shade as their cabin. I slid onto the bench beside Riley. I tried to start a conversation, but he closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. Phil cut off my response from the head table.

"Greetings campers, new and old! We near the beginning of another great summer at Camp Canada! Now, enjoy your meal, because there are war games today!" everyone cheered and got up, grabbing empty plates that were provided.

The cabins went through a cycle, and it was Hecate's turn to get food first. I followed Riley to buffet tables I hadn't noticed. We waited while some dryads slowly placed plates down, not letting us go until it was done.

"Get it over with it already!" could be heard from the head table, followed by a snap of the fingers. Amazingly, all the food appeared on the buffet table magically appeared.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Tyche, goddess of Luck-"

"Aren't I lucky!" she overheard, turning around. She was an Italian woman, seeming to be in her thirties. She had dark olive skin and jet black hair. "All I did was miss a couple meetings, and I have to look after this harpy hole!" she exclaimed, turning around again and putting her high heels up on the table.

"She directs the camp, but she's not allowed to directly influence with her powers, only let karma do its magic." Riley continued, quite a bit quieter. After we had loaded up on waffles and whip cream, we sat back down.

"There's a one minute prayer before the meal." Riley whispered, just before everyone bowed their heads.

_Um, whoever's listening, hi! It's me, your son. You know the one you abandoned along with his mom long ago? The least you could do would be to use your powers to show you're my dad, but no, here you are silent as ever. Honestly, it's the least you could do!_

Thunder boomed in the distance.

"oh shut up dad! I wasn't going to do anything too bad to them." Tyche yelled, but I had a feeling in the pit of them stomach that wasn't why there was thunder.

_Seriously, you're supposed to be an honourable all powerful gods, but you abandoned a baby? That's shallow man._

More thunder.

I stopped praying and ate my meal early.

The day went awesome until prophecy class, a new thing they were trying.

"Now, lay your clay pots on the table, and hopefully our godly parent will send you a message!" the teacher instructed, we were making holy plates.

I laid mine down and watched carefully.

Ineligible etching appeared on mine, and then it scratched itself out and disappeared.

"Are you kidding me!?" I yelled, unknowingly out loud. "After 15 years of dead silence and cowardice, you start, but then you decide not to!" a million thoughts of anger raced through my mind, it would take forever to write them down, let's just say I was pretty pissed off. So pissed off actually, that I threw the plate, kicked over the table and then raced outside. Riley levitated the plate from crashing

I pulled out Ilvis, and struck it, it came out as a cutlass, good enough.

"Grab it! Kill it!" I swerved my head and saw a huge dog running straight towards me, followed by several campers (I later learned it escaped from Monster assault class) it had its eyes set on me and was bolting in my direction. I reared back and prepared for it to hit me.

When it did pounce, I stabbed hard and it went clearly through the monsters chest, as if made of butter. Surprisingly, when its momentum stopped, my hair stood on end and with a _crack_ it flew off of my blade and rolled to a stop, 10 meters away. It shook its head, and charged one last time, leaking gold dust from its wound.

Power surged through my body, I focused in on my arm, I held out my sword and shot it through it with an epic war cry. A thick bolt of lightning arced from the tip of my blade and struck the beast, dissolving it to dust immediately.

I gasped, and Riley approached me. He looked at a point above my head, and got down on one knee with his arm propping himself up on his knee.

"Hail Sawyer, Son of Zeus, Lightning bringer, Wind master, Lord of the Sky, and God of the Eagle."

I followed his eyes up to a floating bubble above my head. It was a large lightning bolt on a blue background.

Son of Zeus, I like the sound of that.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Son of Zeus, I like the sound of that. Other campers came and propped down on one knee, it was really awkward. I quickly tried to get out of the situation by walking out to the common area n front of the cabins.

I saw a nice enough looking guy, he was my age. He was with some friends playing Risk, and by the look of it he would make a good warlord. The map was flooded with gray, Athena camper I bet. I tapped him on the shoulder.

"I know this is going to sound weird, but can I ask you a couple questions about camp?" I explained.

"Of course, Mia, roll for me." He instructed and followed me out of earshot. "What can I help you with?" he asked, cracking his knuckles. Not trying to be tough, he was just making sure his hands weren't idle, probably because of the ADHD.

"Well, how often do you get a child of the big three? Like Poseidon, Hades or-"

"Zeus" he finished for me. "The three male children of Kronos and the strongest gods of all, agreed not to have children after World War II, when-"he caught himself, yup definitely Athena. "I don't think we ever have."

"So the Zeus Cabin is honorary?"

"Only one, name's Owen by the way, Athena Cabin counselor."

"Well Owen, lay your eyes on Sawyer, Son of Zeus." I sat dramatically, spreading my arms.

"You serious man? Nice!" he exclaimed. He swung his hand to grab mine in the arm wrestle looking handshake that guys do. When our skin contacted, his body vibrated slightly and he pulled away.

"Yup, I believe you now." He commented, flailing his hand after the shock as if shaking off the feeling.

"Sorry," I stated, staring at my hand, it had never done that before. "Um could you tell me a little about Zeus? Like what I can do?" I said, if he was Athena he would know more than anyone about that.

"Hmm, Zeus. Well I guess you would have Aerokinesis, absolute control over the air. You can control and generate very powerful winds and air currents. You can also probably ride air currents, flying in a way, and you can generate fierce storms."

"Wow! That's amazing! I-"I started to speak but he wasn't done.

"Electrokinesis, absolute control over lightning and electricity. Slight immunity to electricity, and you can generate bolts of static electricity, and send electrical shocks through others on contact like me. Finally you may also be able to summon lightning bolts from the sky." What was this guy, an encyclopedia?

"Wow, thanks." I commented, feeling those were quite a bit out of my abilities.

"One last thing, the big three, um, aren't very kind to their brothers children. I would suggest you stay out of their kingdoms. "

"I guess I need my new schedule! Thanks for the info!" I ran away, not wanting to hear any more descriptions.

On the way to the Chalet I could hear him call, "Kamchatka attacks Alaska!" I liked Camp Canada so far; everyone seemed really nice and welcoming. There were always little things going on, it seemed like the perfect place for me.

I reached for the doorknob of the Chalet, but I was surprised when it opened for me, Phil nearly ran into me.

"Sawyer it seems we are making a habit out of this!" he stated smiling.

"Zeus." I said before thinking. "I'm a son of Zeus."

"What? When? When did you learn this?"

I was claimed a little while ago." I stated, indicating the cabins with my thumb.

"That's awesome!" he exclaimed, truly excited. "But, it also causes some trouble." He added, now worried. He furrowed his brow and scratched his stubble.

"How?" I asked, but he didn't answer. He walked past me and kept going to nowhere in particular. He caught himself and ran back inside, then came out with my schedule. I studied it carefully. Today was Saturday, which was a free day with Sunday, but on Monday I had Combat Healing, Forging, and Kayaking. Looking more, it all looked pretty cool. Not knowing what else to do, I aimlessly walked towards the common area in front of the cabins.

I scanned the area, looking for things to do.

Owen had destroyed everyone at Risk, so they kicked him out and found a new player, Apollo campers were throwing rocks at cans, Aphrodite Cabin was gossiping behind their cabin, but I decided on something different.

I walked over to the picnic table where two boys my age were arm wrestling. They grunted and sweated, but no one seemed to have the upper hand.

"Who are they?" I ask a nearby camper. He raised his eyebrow at me but answered.

"Lance and Colton, Apollo and Nike counselors, in that order. Anything you can push, lift, eat, climb, swim, kick or shake a stick at they compete about. They have been friends forever." He said, giving a surprisingly detailed analysis.

The one on the left, Lance, was about 5' 8, he has a very slim face and short brown hair, his face was as blank as a starless night sky. The other boy, Colton, was shorter; he had pitch black hair that was even shorter and a short, wide face. His eyes stood out from his face, they were like fire, lighting up thin air, unlike Lance who had simple grey eyes.

With a grunt, Lance pushed Colton's arm slightly back, but Colton sprung and slammed Lance's arm hard into the picnic table. As he stood up and cheered, Lance clutched his hand and muttered curses. Colton put his foot on the table and fist-pumped as a joke to a chorus of cheers.

He hopped down and people started to pat him on the back, his eyes scanned the crowd. They passed by me, and then shot back and he walked to me.

"Hew, are you the noob? Never seen you here before."

'Sure am." I said, proud to be a part of camp. "Sawyer Solbard, son of Zeus." I said, finding pride when I said that.

"Nice!" Colton high-fived me, truly excited. Apparently Big three kids were a big deal. I know they were rare but seriously, people were acting like I was the god's gift to demigods. I walked over to introduce myself to Lance. He clutched his hand; someone had brought him a damp cloth to wrap his knuckles in.

"Good attempt." I said, sitting down in the lawn chair beside his.

"Yeah but, wait, who are you? I've never seen you around."

"Well you guys don't miss a thing! I'm the noob, Sawyer Solbard." He chuckled but grimaced when he moved his hand.

"Wha cabin?" he asked simply.

"Zeus." I answered after a short pause. His face lit up, forgetting his pain.

"What?" He questioned "Prove it, shock something, or something like that." He said, deciding to have some fun.

"Look at that." I pointed at his shirt. He surprisingly looked down. I brought my finger up and caught him on the nose, sending a generous shock through his body. His body shook hard and he toppled backwards off his chair, I burst out laughing. He took me offered hand and hauled himself up.

"Well I believe you now, glad to have a big three kid around!" He dusted off his shirt then went to find something to do. I followed his example and scanned the area again.

_Maybe I can find someone to teach me some sword fighting techniques, Ares camper? Maybe not, apparently they are all stubborn as a mule._

I saw a girl holding the strangest thing, I think it was a jackknife or something. I taped her on the shoulder and introduced myself.

"Zeus?! Nice! "She said, nearly the same reaction as everyone. "What can I do for you?"

"First you can tell me what that is." I indicated the bottle opener.

First of all, I'm from Dionysus cabin, and secondly stand back." She closed it, then swung it open butterfly knife style. When it came out, it was a 3 foot long gladius.

"Heather, Dionysus counselor." She lowered her sword and raised her hand. "nice to meet you Heather."

"Um, could you direct me to someone, not Ares, that could give me a quick sword lesson?"

"Ares isn't that bad, they are just a little rude." She explained. "If you want though, I would suggest Katie, she's from Hermes and can wield any weapon known to man, shell be in the combat ring."

"Thanks!" I ran off to the combat ring. It was across camp, so I was panting when I got there. That wasn't good, because I was up for a much bigger workout.

I spotted Katherine immediately; she was the only girl there. I watched as she disarmed two boys with a spear, kicked the head off a dummy, and then dropped the spear, pulled out two daggersm spun them on her fingers, and then released them, both landing hilt-deep in two unfortunate dummy heads.

"Later boys! If you ever want to try again, you know where I'll be!" she commented confidently to the boys leaving.

As I walked up to her, she brushed a strand of hair out of her face and focused on me.

She had raven black hair past her shoulder blades; her face was different than most girls. She had a sharp, point nose, but it strangely suited her. Her head was thin, and ended in a pointed nose. Finally, she had fierce eyes, like tigers waiting to pounce, to sum it up, she was hot!

"Can I help you?" she stated matter-of-factly, placing a hand on her hip. She wore jean shorts and a baggy shirt over a white tank top.

"Looking for some weapon lessons." I said, raising Ilvis and shaking it. She chuckled to herself, to which I raised an eyebrow at.

"Nothing, I'm just surprised. All the boys I know are too proud or stubborn to take lessons from a girl."

"Well that's stupid." I agreed, I didn't really have an opinion, but I wanted to get off on the right foot with her, I had realized it was a close knit community and it would be tough if she hated me.

"Aint that the truth." She snorted as she fixed her ponytail with both hands.

"So?" I raised Ilvis again. "Lessons?"

"Gladly, but what weapon are we talking about?" she said over her shoulder as she went to retrieve the daggers. I looked at Ilvis in my hand.

"Let's find out." I struck it and thought, _Random weapon!_ Ilvis flattened and lengthened into a sword, a little shorter than a longsword.

"Well, do you want to learn properly? I took years of fencing before camp, and camp lessons are much different." She said as she went to the weapon rack.

"Definitely properly, I don't care if I need to bribe you into personal lessons; I want to learn the right way."

"I like the way you think! By the way, I didn't get your name." She finished with a furrowed brow. I stuck my sword in the ground and offered my hand.

"Sawyer, son if Zeus."

"Hmm." Was all she said as she inspected the sword she had selected?

"Now I like the way you think. People are treating me like I'm special, but I haven't even done anything! I would rather be recognized for my actions than my parents. That's just the way I am!" I said the last part jokingly. Katie smiled broadly and quietly commented,

"That a good way to be Sawyer."

"Now back to swordfigting, there are seven forms of Swordfighting, we will learn the first, and it is called Shii-cho" I shot her a questioning look at the name. "Don't ask" was the only answer.

She slowly went through the moves, instructing as she went.

"Shii-cho is simple, and simplicity is strength." She started, sounding like an old Chinese monk or something. "Shii-cho is often used as a tutorial form,

and is considered an effective fall back option when nothing else will do."

She turned to me and continued them, but putting me through them first, interrupting herself to comment on my form.

"

Shi-cho is wild and raw; it relies on deliberate tactics and cutting off your opponents angles to be performed successfully. In a novice, it may seem clumsy, but in experienced hands it is fluid, but randomized an unpredictable." I smiled at the description.

"It seems a little over my head, could I-"

"No." She said instantly, her eyes flared. She caught herself, "I mean, if you take your time, I promise you'll cut through monsters, I promise fencing is highly congruent with fighting them." I thought, being random and unpredictable could probably save my life one day when I'm battling a monster. I turned to her and nodded, she smiled broadly.

We kept at it for several hours; she had no plans and seemed excited to teach a willing student. Watching her attack was amazing, it was just like she said, simplistic and raw. The only thing I could relate it to would be water flow over the falls. That may seem strange but so was the combat technique.

After two hours, 17 bruises and about a liter of sweat later, she announced we were done for the day.

"And Sawyer." Katie called out to my back as I was walking away, "Same time tomorrow?"

"Definelty!" I said with a smile and a nod.

I went back to the Cabins when Riley waved me over to him.

"So, how do you like camp?" husked when I came near him.

"Awesome!" I said, completely sincere. "I met, let's see, Lance, Colton, Katie, Owen, and Leah, I think that's all."

"Cool, so anyone catch your eye?' he joked.

"I don't know, who's single, actually, who's a couple?"

"Well, Amber, Aphrodite counselor, is with Dustin from Apollo, Lance is with Leah, Luke is with Rebecca, and Mia from Athena is with Seth from Ares." I whistled at the last couple.

"Seems like an unlikely couple."

"Yeah, meet them and you'll agree with yourself even more."

**Whoever can guess where Shii-cho is from is mentioned in a later chapter! PM me!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I was so tired from my training session with Katherine; I sat down and lounged in a lawn chair for the rest of the day.

Riley levitated a lawn chair beside me and sat down.

"You'll have to teach me that trick sometime."

"You have no idea how good it feels to use it on a TV remote." I chuckled at his joke. He made no attempt to revive the conversation, so I laid back and closed my eyes, not for a nap but a little relaxation.

After about 30 seconds, I woke up to a loud thump and a giggle. I looked over at Riley; he was lying on the ground with his chair on its back. I immediately figured out what happened.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"I don't know. If both of us couldn't sense them I bet it was a Hermes camper."

"I heard a high pitched giggle, which narrows it down to girls and Justin Beiber." I said, implying my hatred of the celebrity. Luckily Riley chuckled, which I took as him agreeing with me.

"What's the difference?" he countered after a moment, and that sent us both laughing.

"I thought I was tired, but I can't stay still for my life, I'm going to look for some action." I commented, getting up much to my body's protest.

"Any plans?" Riley mumbled, falling asleep again.

"Maybe I'll meet some campers." I offered, stretching to get rid of the weariness of my muscles. After I heard soft snoring from his direction, I set off.

_In this position yet again. _I thought.

_Let's see, Aphrodite girl touching up her makeup, Nah. Colton and lance racing over the cabin roofs, probably not. There! _ A girl was peeking out from behind a cabin. I recognized her from the Hermes table at supper. Not knowing what else to do, I decided to try and beat her at her own game.

I walked the long way around, ending up at the end of the line of cabins. I slowly walked along, careful not to slip on any loose rocks. The cabins were pressed right against the ridge, so I didn't have much room to walk. When I finally came within about 10 meters, she spoke.

"I heard you a ways back, you're terrible at stealth." I let out the breath I had been holding and walked over, not afraid to be quiet anymore. She turned towards me and I got my first good look at her.

She had straight dark brown hair with light brown highlights that went to her mid-back, and blue eyes that sparkled with mischief, as if wondering how I'd look with a pie in my face.

She also had a sharp nose and upturned eyebrows, with a seemingly permanent sarcastic smile. She was pretty slim, but also well-muscled; I bet lots of girls envied her on her ability to pull it off. Also, she had tanned skin, stood at about 5'10 and I would guess she was 15-16 years old.

She wore a black crop top with a tank top underneath, ripped black shorts, and combat boots.

"Well? Are just going to stare or introduce yourself?" she demanded. I shook myself back to reality and charmed her using my epic social prowess in front of girls.

"Um, uh sorry." She sighed and leaned against the back of the cabin. "So why aren't you with all the other campers?" I inquired, taking a piece of the wall next to her.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I'm just not feeling it today."

"Ah, rebellion." I recognized.

'You sound like an adult." She commented, and then realized she sounded even more rebellious. She chuckled to herself and stared off in the distance.

"I never got your name." I prompted a conversation.

'Leah, Leah Fox." She held out a hand.

"Seems suitable, you're sly like a fox." She indicated her hand, wondering why I hadn't taken it. "I don't shake anymore; I'm a son of Zeus."

"I heard there was a Big Three kid." She remembered.

"Thanks the gods!" I raised my fist to the sky, and then remembered I hated Zeus, so I lowered it quickly. "I'm tired of the same reaction!"

"I bet." She commented, slugging back. "Oh by the way, you dropped something." she pointed. I turned and bent over. With a swift motion she kicked my in the butt and sent me forward, protruded a can of whip cream and sprayed it in my face.

"That's for staring." She leaned over and commented, then walked away.

I stayed laying down for some reason, relaying what I thought about her.

"I see you've met Leah." I heard a voice. I wiped the whip cream from my eyes and recognized Owen.

"I think I did." I joked. I pulled, myself up and wiped it all of my face. Out of nowhere, Owen pied me.

"That's from her." He commented and walked off. I wiped my eyes yet again and checked my watch; campers would be going to bed soon. I decided I had had enough for one day, so I washed up and went to bed early. I went to Hecate Cabin though, I had no time to move all of my stuff.

+.+.+.+

Since I went to bed early, I also got up earlier than everyone. I sat in the lawn chairs outside the cabins, and lounged for a bit. After I got bored of that, I tried my luck at throwing a football and landing it in the fire pit at 30 meters away.

As I got it for the first time, I heard the cabin doors opened, followed by the early risers. I met Terrance and Marshall from Hephaestus, Penny from Aphrodite and Teegan from Demeter.

"that would be funny!" I commented to Terrance, craning my head and not looking where I was going. I ran into something and land on my but.

It wasn't a something, it was a someone.

A very hot someone.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking! Are you ok?" I rambled on as I got up and helped her up.

"I'm fine!" she insisted as she dusted herself off. She wore jeans shorts and two tank tops, the inner one white and the outer one green with the camp logo. She was quite pretty, wide a slim face, small nose, deep brown eyes and a pearly white smile. She bent over to adjust her shoes and I saw her hair, brown-black in a ponytail, it would go a little past her shoulders.

I offered my hand "I'm Sawyer, Saw-"

"Sawyer Solbard." She finished, she crossed her arms, so I quickly retreated my arm. "Word spreads fast." she added.

"May I have the honor of knowing your name?" I charmed.

"Amber Lewinsky, Aphrodite counselor." My hopes dropped, I tried to hide it on my face. Riley had told me yesterday that she was going out with Dustin form Apollo, for all I knew he was a 6' 7 bulk of muscle ready to kick my butt.

Amber noticed my drop of interest and rolled her eyes. "Oh, because you know I'm in a relationship you're going to stop talking to me? Typical guy!" She spat, leaning in close to me for effect. The farther she went in the sentence, the meaner she sounded.

_Easy Sawyer, you're walking on eggshells._

"I'm single, always have been always will be. I apologize if I layed off you slightly when the mental image of your boyfriend beating the crap out of me appeared in my head." I explained. She tried to look displeased, but a smile slowly appeared on her face.

"I apologize Sawyer, I-... I jumped to conclusions and judged you too quickly." She apologized.

"it's alright, can we prove society wrong and get to know each other. She nodded and smiled.

"I'd like that Sawyer." She turned around with one last smile and walked away. I let out my held breath and wiped the sweat off my brow, that was excruciating, usually I had no problem talking to people, but all these new people made me a little nervous. I aimlessly checked my watch and cursed in a language I didn't know, Greek I guessed, I was supposed to be training with Katie right now!

I ran over to The Arena as fast as I could, throwing my bunny hug on Riley ("hold this!") and bolted to the Combat Ring, making the same mistake twice.

+.+.+.+

I waited for a second, leaning up against the marble gateway of the Combat Ring, and caught my breath. I walked in and tried not to look flustered or out of breath, I quickly spotted Katie aimlessly polishing a short spear. In one fluid and extremely quick motion, she threw the spear straight at my face.

In a motion rivaling hers, I swung my left hand to my face, palm out. When it neared me, it veered off-course and struck in the wall.

"With the Hades was that for?!" I demanded. She paid no attention; she just grabbed her sword from her side and polishing it, mumbling, "Hmm, yes I thought so." I cleared my throat loudly, and that caught her attention.

"Oh? Oh yes, just a test, let's get to work." I pulled out Ilvis. "Oh no, we would want to shred each other before War games Tonight, I had Luke dull these for me." She handed me a basic longsword, she and a matching one,

"Even though they are dull, a wayward chop could still break a bone, just don't be stupid." She surprised me again by drawing her sword and swinging it at me from the left; she handled it as if it was made of feathers.

I raised my sword and blocked it vertically; she swung back the other day and attacked my feet. I leapt higher than I thought I could and saw my chance. She had brought her sword too far left, and her mid section was open. I tried to attack, but she was too quick. She blocked it, and then swung at me, which I attempted to block. She spun her sword in her hand and slashed again, and once more, each time I blocked it. This continues for seemingly forever, Katie's onslaught of attacks never ceased, and I was usually there on the defensive.

She never resisted, she spun her sword in her hands liek it was a twig, the only thing I could compare it to would be Jedi fighting, her sword was weightless to her. I couldn't take it much longer. I started sweating, hard. I took a sole defensive role, moving my sword only to block hers.

_C'mon Sawyer, finish it! Use what you learned, disarm her!_

I waited until she swung from the right, when she did I stabbed at the air just beside her cross guard. With a mighty swing I knocked it out of her hands and sent it skittering across the floor.

Katie looked at me with a mixture of awe and surprise.

"I think, you're ready for war games." She stated as she reached for her sword.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Wargames?" I asked, wanting to know a little more.

"Yup, tonight it's Domination." She answered with a smile. "But first, you'll need to find a team. There are 4 among the entire camp, it doesn't matter which cabin you are from, and the teams are made up of all the cabins. There is a draft of new kids at the start of the year, its alot like hockey actually. People can leave and become 'Free Agents' and you can make trades, it's all very political."

"What are the teams and who are the leaders?"

"Riley leads the Spartans, Owen is the leader of the Athenians, Heather runs the Mycenaeans, and Colton and Lance team up for the Macedonians." I chuckled; I recognized all the team names as cultures in Ancient Greece.

"So, do I talk to them?" I inquired, sitting down and considering the teams.

"Oh not at all, by now I'm sure they've realized theirs a son of Zeus who's not on their team. They'll be all over you in the next hour." She chuckled, shaking her head at their unpreparedness.

"What team are you on?" I sudden asked, whoever had her on their team definelty had an edge.

"I'm on the Mycenaeans right now, they are having trouble, I usually move to the worst team." That made sense, she probably wanted a challenge, or felt bad for the losing team. Also, if your team was losing all of your fighters would want to leave, but they would be tempted to stay if they were on the same team as Katherine. A good deed on her part, it helped keep the system together.

"So, this is the end of our training?"

"For today, you'll get plenty of practice at the Wargames. I recommend you practice your demigod powers, you'll need them if you want to stand a chance." And with that, she strode out of the Combat Ring.

I decided she was right, I had only used them once, and I didn't even mean to. I sent up three dummies and stood ready with Ilvis.

_I can practice this too, Spear._ I commanded, it stretched and morphed into a dagger. I sighed and collapsed it. _Spear! _I thought, as commanding as someone can think a phrase. Club. _SPEAR! _I yelled/thought, losing my temper. It morphed straight from a club to the familiar 2 meter Ballistic Iron spear.

Finally. Now I stood in front of the dummies with my spear. How do you command lightning to appear? Well, it was all about electricity, so I looked at my hands. If I really focused, I could almost feel the charge running through them. I focused it, commanding it to gather into my spear. I frantically pointed my spear at it, like I threw it but forgot to let go. Weak bolts danced around the end, but it refused to move. I stared at it, and then commanded it to get bigger, strengthen, enlarge itself until it was huge and unstoppable. My only reply was more shocks moving across the tip and down the rod slightly.

Frustrated, I hurled the spear at the straw dummies in the corner. It went straight through with a _pop!_

When I went and inspected it, much of the straw was singed, much to my satisfaction. For the next ten minutes I practiced until I was too tired. I managed one weak bolt from my spear to the target, even though it was a meter away. I also managed a slight levitation, rising a couple centimeters off the ground.

I sat there, panting on the bench when the first one came.

"Sawyer!' Owen exclaimed as he skidded into the archway of the Ring. "I need to talk to you!"

"I thought an Athena camper would be more prepared." I scolded, happy to find a mistake he made, since he apparently made none.

"I know, I apologize. I was wondering if you wanted to join my team for War Games.!" After a moment, he continued. "You would be an important strategic asset, we are the best team! Your best choice would be us!" I didn't fall for his persuasion, it was rushed and unprepared, which only made me smile.

"I don't know, I've had several other people approach me..." I trailed off, letting his imagination make up the rest of the situation.

"Listen, if you choose me, come to the gold wartent before the games, ok? Now if you will excuse me I have a strategy to work on." He ran back just as fast as he had come. I chuckled at him and shook my head, then continued my training. After a while, I realized I should probably pray. I had said some, um, descriptive words about Zeus and if I wanted to use his powers, I would need to apologize.

_Hey, Zeus? You up there in Olympus? It's me, Sawyer. I'm sorry for those words I said. I was angry and it blinded my judgment. You did what you had to do, you have a world to run, and you can't busy yourself with raising a mortal child. I just ask you can help me further my training, thank you._ I got up to see no other than Riley waiting for me.

"Finally, I was waiting for you. You doing Wargames tonight?" Of course I was doing them, everyone had to. He was just saying that to break the ice.

"Riley, I don't know, about the team thing that is. Don't look surprised, Katie told me all about them. I just think it would be a good chance for me to hang out with different people. Honestly, you and Luke are my only friends; I need to get to know the other teams." Riley smiled understandingly.

"Fair enough, but I won't hold back tonight!" he pointed at me threateningly, though still jokingly.

"Right back at you." Riley departed, and I realized I had no armour. According to my watch, I had 10 minutes to secure a team and some armour.

With a pause, I decided to practice my new powers. I jumped hard, straining my legs to push harder. At the crest of my jump, where I would usually go down, I controlled the air currents around me and extended my jump to the door.

On the way I nearly ran into Lance.

"Sawyer! Who's team-"

"Yours now! Got any armour?" I spurted out. He was glad to motion for me to follow him; he kept some at the War Games Arena.

"I got news for the Macedonians! I present Sawyer!" He announced as we entered the red and yellow tent. Everybody was aimlessly polishing shields, sharpening swords, etc., apparently they didn't have much hope of winning When Lance gave them the news they cheered up exponentially, and they all patted me on the back and introduced themselves to me. Colton even looked up and smiled from his map he had sprawled out on a table.

The people I knew form the Macedonians were Terrance, Dustin, Amber and Rebecca.

"Everybody gather around." Colton interrupted our greetings. "Now, if you don't know the layout of the game here it is, the map is split into four corners. Each corner is owned by a team and holds two flags; they only get to place one. Capture the flags and bring them to home base. To be quicker we are splitting into groups of three to assault each corner, when we have secured at least two more flags, we will regroup and attack a base camp, got it?" we all agreed. He gave us the teams; I was added to the odd team which had two, Rebecca and Dustin.

Dustin was an Apollo kid with gold hair that fell to his chin and green eyes, he carried a golden bow.

After I was given a red shield and yellow armour, which was very uncomfortable, we stalked out of our tent and made our way to Phil in the middle of the tents.

"Everyone listen up! The map is split into four corners. Each corner is owned by a team and holds two flags; they only get to place one. Capture all the flags and bring them to your home base to win! No mauling, leave if your injured, there are prisoners allowed, Begin!" With that we all ran to our base in the most northern part of the arena. Using my new control, I struck Ilvis into a short sword.

Once we reached our base, we all stood in a circle and Colton gave us a pep talk.

"Listen up! It's time to see who's got their heart in this! Prove to yourselves and everyone out there that you are the strongest!" He didn't have tome to say anymore, because Philocetes shot a flare into the air, signalling the start. I ran outside and watched around, quickly finding the missing pieces of my trio.

"Any suggestions?" I called out to Dustin ahead of me.

"Rebecca disarms, you engage, I cover." Simple enough, we continued south to our destination, the Mycenaean corner.

"Does the Arena ever change?" I inquired as we ran through the forest covering much of the Arena.

"The forest nymphs and river naiads help us form the Arena to any environment." Nicole answered quite loud. I quickly found out her real emotions came out in battle.

"Oh yeah, remember the blizzard last year? That was awesome!" Dustin chimed in.

As we reached a thicker part of the forest, Dustin raised his hand and we all halted. He cupped his hand around his ear and we all listened closely. The crack of a branch could be heard, but we all knew it was too late. I barely had time to expand Ilvis into a spear before four campers in green armour pounced down from the trees and surrounded us.

"Are you Athenians lost? Because if you didn't know, this is our territory." Rebecca taunted as she unfurled her whip, crackling it in the air for effect. I quickly scanned them, two had swords, one had an axe and one had a bow. Dustin slowly knocked an arrow and stepped back. I sidestepped ever so slowly to the right, getting ready to flank them. There was so much tension; I think if Dustin shot an arrow, it might get stuck in the air.

My eyes darted to my teammates, looking for a signal. Dustin caught my eyes, and then winked very slowly.

He let out a huge warcry and fired an arrow, striking the lead demigods in the shoulder. Rebecca and I advanced; she lashed out with her whip with deadly accuracy. I watched as she disarmed one Athenian, kicked him over, and then dodge an axe swing.

I held my shield in front of me and charged. I heard a _Thunk_ and noticed an arrowhead tip poking through my shield. An Athenian with a sword came near me and I engaged in my first real fight. I whirled around, striking him with my shield and then zapped him from my spear. His eyes widened with surprise as he went down.

Dustin and the bow wielder were engaging in an arrow/firefight. With an expert shot, Dustin's arrow ripped through the other's bow and he surrendered. I looked over my shoulder to find Rebecca standing over two groaning demigods, holding the wounds she had given them.

I collapsed Ilvis while Rebecca tied him to a tree and we continued on, we had already wasted too much time. I surprised myself with my endurance, I ran across the whole War Games Arena and my breath didn't even quicken, I didn't feel tired at all.

My expression lightened as I saw the red flag of the Mycenaean's perched on a rock pile through the trees. Out of nowhere, Rebecca tackled me onto my back.

I started to yell but she clamped a hand over my mouth and kept it there.

"Quiet." She slurred, barely audible. It was very awkward, her face stood inches from mine, her body pressed against mine, and she refused to move. I watched as a blood red helmet of a Mycenaean spotter peeked above the bush, she had stopped us from being spotted. We had to remain in our "position" for another 20 seconds (Not that I kept count) until the spotter far away.

She rolled off me eagerly and brushed off her pants. I stood up and cleared my throat awkwardly.

"Umm, about that." I couldn't stop myself from saying.

"You're welcome, now f we don't mention it again..." She trailed off, shooting daggers into me and Dustin, we both nodded eagerly. We crouched down and Rebecca drew our plan in the loose dirt below us. It was a pretty good plan; Rebecca continued to surprise me as her identity rose to the surface in battle.

We put it into action and I took my place on the other side of the clearing, slowly going around.

I surveyed the flag, I saw 5 watchmen, all with bows and swords. The flag stood on a 15 foot rock pile and the 5 demigods slowly circled around it. Dustin started the attack by dropping one soldier with an arrow to the leg. Rebecca let out a warcry and burst in, followed by me as I struck Ilvis into a one handed sword. The defenders rapidly looked between us, weighing their chances and watching for more. We took advantage of their confusion and charged in; I mostly used my shield because I was terrified of accidentally hurting one of them. We quickly dispatched them all; Rebecca told me I could grab the flag. I climbed the pile with little trouble, when I reached for the flag it all went wrong.

Several things happened at once; Rebecca yelled me a warning, an arrow was shot into my left bicep, and an explosion threw me off the pile. My ears burned and I couldn't hear a sound. I was screaming in pain, but I couldn't hear it. It's strange having an eerie silence in such a frantic situation. My body felt like someone had stabbed a hot poker into my arm, and then a grenade exploded all over my body.

I hit the ground with a disturbing sound, somewhere between a _crack _and a_ thump. _I started swearing very colorfully, and in several languages while writhing on the ground, holding my arm.

My vision was clouded red and blotchy, I barely made out several figures running across my field of vision. After a minute, one of them returned and leaned in towards me. I could make out that he was saying something, but I couldn't hear it, it looked like he was yelling now.

My vision was the first sense to come back to me, it slowly cleared as the figure, which I now knew was Dustin, help me across the clearing to a fallen tree.

With a loud, audible _pop_, my hearing suddenly returned to me.

"-believe they did that, it was pretty backhanded. Hey, can you hear me now?" I gave an astounded nod.

"Great, I guess you don't know what happened. There was a couple Hephaestus kids hiding in the bushes, they planted explosives in the pile. Completely outside of the rules, but here's the thing, they didn't want to use them like it was used. They wanted to use it to distract people BEFORE they got to the flag, but Ares kids stole the controls. Phil heard the noise and came, he pulled them off by the ear, and boy was he pissed." He said, looking down at my arm. I looked and saw a sling; I didn't even notice him start working on it.

"That arrow was pretty bad, it went right through. Drink this." He handed me a water bottle from a pouch on his quiver; I smelled it and it smelled normal enough, but when I tasted it, it was terrific. It tasted just like fresh, glistening barbecue ribs, right off the grill, but in liquid form. It was one of the strangest things I've ever tasted. I went to take another swig but Dustin took it from my hands.

"Don't drink more." He warned.

"Why not? What will happen" I asked

"You will kind of combust, you know, suddenly become engulfed in flames and die."

I spit whatever was left in my mouth into the dirt.

"What the Hades was that?" I asked.

"It's Nectar, the drink of the gods. If a mortal drank it they would combust. It's your god half that keeps you alive. It has amazing healing powers"

"Cool, so about the game?"

"We are under truce." He pointed at the flag beside us in the ground; it had a peace sign on it. "Phil carries it; other teams can't attack us, vice versa. Can you walk?"

"I think so." I stood up, the red-colored sling now done. My legs wobbled and I took a shaky step, very similar to a newborn calf. After a little bit of practice, I had full control of my limbs.

"The flag that was here?" I inquired.

"Rebecca got it and ran; she didn't know you were down." I looked over I had several burns all of my body, some of my clothes had been scorched in places and I noticed several cuts from the shrapnel, which Dustin now had started to clean. I sat back down and he wet this cloth, and then went back to work.

"Will any of it scar?" I said, realizing for the first time that Apollo was the god of healing. Duh, of course he had nectar and stuff, he was his son.

"If I were you I'd ask Lance, but I think only this one." He pointed to my jaw line. I asked him to get Ilvis and he brought it to me. _Shield, bare, no design._ To my surprise, Ilvis expanded into a shield, bare as promised. It was large, and a perfect mirror. I inspected where Dustin had pointed and found a large cut, probably form a sharp rock fragment. It ran from my temple and followed my hairline; it stopped a couple inches past my ear.

I reached to touch it, but flinched and pulled back my hand from the pain.

"Let's start on our way back." We stood up and made our way north, to our base.

Dustin's attitude and mine lit up when we saw Colton followed by a mob of Macedonians; Colton had the Spartan flag and was running to our base. They were soon followed by a mob of Spartans. They surrounded us, but Dustin waved the Truce flag and they left us. We eventually made it t the base, where I smiled as we watched more and more flags come in. The Spartans got kicked out, then the Athenians, and finally the Mycenaeans fell and we won. I passed out in the chair I was sitting in when Lance came in with the last flag.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry but there will be a couple songs in this chapter!**

Chapter 11

Thanks to Dustin, and eventually Lance's healing powers, plus a heavy dose of Nectar, my arm healed up to only a scar. The rest of my body had a few small cuts, but my ear did scar.

"Holy man, I'm ready to hit the hay." I exclaimed, we cut straight east towards the cabins.

"You're kidding me, right?" Riley caught up beside me. "There's a huge party after for only the winning team! Each camper can bring up to two people though..." He trailed off; I knew where he was headed.

"Don't worry, I got your back. Hey Terrance, can you invite Luke for me? I want to invite someone else."

Terrance nodded eagerly; he was a Métis kid my age with a buzz cut that I had gotten to know. He ran off to find Luke, he was a really nice guy and always ready to help. I ran over to where I knew I would find the person in question.

"Leah?" I called out when I came around the back of the cabins. It was dark and I couldn't tell. Out of nowhere a shadow leapt from the darkness and stopped inches from my face. I'll admit I jumped about a meter.

"Boo." She added simply with a smile.

"Gods Leah! Let me know if I jump out of my skin, I'll need it later." I did a mental face palm; that was a horrid joke.

"Umm, ok." She commented. Yup, terrible joke.

"Anyway, I'd like to extend an invite to you, my team won."

"I don't know Sawyer..."

"C'mon! Socialize! You only live once, plus Riley will be there!" Her face gave me a see-through questioning face, but she gave up.

"Was it that obvious?" She asked, worried that other people knew.

"I don't know, I'll warn you I'm a bit of a Sherlock." I imitated looking through a magnifying glass. "Here's my offer, follow me to the party and I'll ask him about his opinion of you."

"Mmm." I could tell she was at war in her head, but she finally gave up. "One hour, ok? One hour!" I smiled. I held out my arm, fist against my waist.

"Milady?" I joked. She shook her head, laughing, but hooked her arm through mine and we skipped to the Mess Hall in the cheesiest way possible.

I stepped in and the Mess Hall was already set up. The cabin tables were put to the side, Athena and Dionysus tables were used for the drinks. (Hopefully Dionysus blessed them or something.) Luke set up his DJ equipment where the head table usually is. (I guess I didn't need to invite him anyway.) He had lights send colors all over the room and strobe lights set up in the corners. He was currently testing out his turntables to _Devil's Den_ by _Skrillex._

I spotted Riley by the drinks and ran over, saying by to Leah. I ran over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Glad you made it! Gods these cups are small." He said, suddenly distracted. With a tug of his hand, like he was pulling on a string, he expanded the cup and smiled.

"Alright Riley, I gotta ask you this. It's been, um, bugging me for awhile. What's your opinion of Leah, Leah Fox? You always give her side glances around camp."

"The Hermes camper?" He said, playing innocent, u could tell he was faking. "I don't know, she's nice, but she's quiet. If she talked more..." He acted like he suddenly loved the song and got into it. I gave up, grabbed some Canada Dry and headed over to Luke , who was beckoning me.

"WHAT'S UP?" I yelled, but overtop of the music it sounded about 1 decibel.

"I GOTTA TAKE A LEAK, DJ FOR ME!"

"WHAT?! I DONT KNOW HOW TO-" but he was already gone. The song ended, and I didn't want to pick a song they thought was bad, so I chose Thrift Shop by Mackelmore.

**Hey, Macklemore! Can we go thrift shopping?**

What, what, what, what...

Bada, badada, badada, bada...

**I'm gonna pop some tags  
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket  
I - I - I'm hunting, looking for a come-up  
This is f****** awesome**

Nah, Walk up to the club like, "What up, I got a big c***!"  
I'm so pumped about some s*** from the thrift shop  
Ice on the fringe, it's so damn frosty  
That people like, "Damn! That's a cold a** honkey."  
Rollin' in, hella deep, headin' to the mezzanine,  
Dressed in all pink, 'cept my gator shoes, those are green  
Draped in a leopard mink, girls standin' next to me  
Probably shoulda washed this, smells like R. Kelly's sheets  
(Piiisssssss)  
But s***, it was ninety-nine cents!  
Coppin' it, washin' it, 'bout to go and get some compliments

I wonder what these circles do?

**Passin' up on those moccasins **_Whirr_

**Passin' up on those moccasins**_ Whirr whirr_

**P-p-p-passin up on those moccasins **

This was awesome!

**someone else's been walkin' in  
But me and grungy f****** it man  
I am stuntin' and flossin' and  
Savin' my money and I'm hella happy that's a bargain, bitch  
I'ma take your grandpa's style, I'ma take your grandpa's style,  
No for real - ask your grandpa - can I have his hand-me-downs? (Thank you)  
Velour jumpsuit and some house slippers  
Dookie brown leather jacket that I found diggin'  
They had a broken keyboard, I bought a broken keyboard  
I bought a skeet blanket, then I bought a kneeboard  
Hello, hello, my ace man, my Mello  
John Wayne ain't got nothing on my fringe game, hell no  
I could take some Pro Wings, make them cool, sell those  
The sneaker heads would be like "Aw, he got the Velcros"  
**A great idea came over me.

"Give it up for DJ Earmite!" I screamed into the mic. The crowd turned to me and cheered.

The entire song I played with the turntables, I was way better than I thought I would be,

Sadly, Luke came over and stole the mic.

"DJ EARMITE WILL BE HERE ALL NGIHT." More cheers, awesome.

**What you know about rockin' a wolf on your noggin?  
What you knowin' about wearin' a fur fox skin?  
I'm digging, I'm digging, I'm searching right through that luggage  
One man's trash, that's another man's come-up  
Thank your granddad for donating that plaid button-up shirt  
'Cause right now I'm up in her stuntin'  
I'm at the Goodwill, you can find me in the (Uptons)  
I'm not, I'm not sick of searchin' in that section (Uptons)**

Riley beckoned me over to a table pulled to the side.**  
Your grammy, your aunty, your momma, your mammy  
I'll take those flannel zebra jammies, second-hand, I rock that motherf*****  
The built-in onesie with the socks on that motherf*******

"What's up?"**  
I hit the party and they stop in that motherf*****  
They be like, "Oh, that Gucci - that's hella tight."**

"Having a quick round of truth or dare." Amber called from beside him.**  
I'm like, "Yo - that's fifty dollars for a T-shirt."  
Limited edition, let's do some simple addition  
Fifty dollars for a T-shirt - that's just some ignorant b****  
I call that getting swindled and pimped  
I call that getting tricked by a business  
That shirt's hella dough**

"I'm in!"**  
And having the same one as six other people in this club is a hella don't  
Peep game, come take a look through my telescope  
Tryna get girls from a brand? Man you hella won't  
Man you hella won't**

(Goodwill... poppin' tags... yeah!)

I wear your granddad's clothes  
I look incredible  
I'm in this big a**coat  
From that thrift shop down the road  
I wear your granddad's clothes  
I look incredible  
I'm in this big a** coat  
From that thrift shop down the road

"Sit beside me!" Amber scooted over and I smiled. I was so happy here, I could hardly explain it. Back in my old school, I wouldn't dream of being with people like this. But here, here I am beside Amber, who willingly offered her seat beside her, Amber was easily twice as hot as any girl in my school and much nicer. Here, I was accepted for who I really was. I was incredibly happy here, I didn't want to leave.

We spun a bottle and it landed on me, then Riley. "Truth or dare."

"Dare." He said bravely.

"I dare you to dance with Leah." I looked over and found her lonely in the corner, checking her watch for the promised hour to be over. Riley's face flushed red and he stuttered.

"Um, uh, there's no slow song!" As if on cue Taylor swift song came on.

_Thanks Aphrodite!_ When I went to take a sip of my Canada Dry; all of the bubbles were in the perfect, detailed shape of a dove. I frantically chugged it down, totally creeped out.

Riley stood up and was still deciding in his head. I gave him a "gentle push" towards Leah by kicking him in the back in her direction.

"Um, Leah, would you like to dance?" Riley offered. Leah's face lit up to an all-time high. She couldn't get out any words, so she frantically nodded her head and took his offered hand.

They danced for the entire song, exchanging in a detailed conversation I couldn't make out. I went up to go to the bathroom when the song ended. Right in front of the door, I got ambushed with a huge hug.

"Thank you, thank you, and thank you!" Leah squeaked out, hugging me harder. "That was so nice of you!" She pulled back, and then caught herself. She let another small smile rise to the surface, and then happily went to the truth or dare group.

When I got back, someone dared me instantly.

"Sawyer!" Amber challenged.

"Dare"

"I dare you to rap battle someone, hmm, Rebecca!" I smiled; there couldn't be a more perfect dare. I had all 34 Epic Rap Battles of History memorized and could sing any of them at will. I flashed a number to Rebecca with my fingers and she nodded. I got up, got microphones for us from Luke and handed one to her.

"Prepare to lose!" I challenged.

"Step up, you'll be shocked when I spit and start static  
I'll rip your style and add it to my long list of patents  
While you were busy digging ditches and burning bridges  
I'm pumping out inventions, stacking riches, so go back to your pigeons  
You're a geek, plagued by OCD  
You never had s**, but you sure got screwed by me  
I'll crush you Tesla, there's just no putting it gently  
I don't alternate my flow, I diss you directly" Rebecca began. I had specifically chosen this one for the electricity references. I began my turn, rapping faster than even the video.

"I see a universe of infinite energy" I opened my hand and made a small ball of electricity hover there.  
"But no potential for threat from this enemy  
So you can call me Tesla, Nikola, impeccably dressed  
Giving lessons in electrical nemesis, this will be on the test  
So confess to your thefts and let the whole world know  
What the Serbian did for the Wizard of Menlo  
History is getting rewritten and I have read it  
Your best invention was a way to steal credit"

"The truth hurts, you're broke and washed up  
Don't give a smidgen 'bout your visions if they can't make a buck  
I conduct business, understood things you never could  
So dope that I even make New Jersey look good  
I'm on the record I invented, you got duped, there, I said it  
I'll bet you fifty thousand dollars that you'll never forget it"

"You fool, you think that you can touch me with this?  
You couldn't handle my gifts with your greedy little mind  
What's inside mine was ahead of its own time  
You did not steal from me, you stole me from mankind!" I increased the ball, making it the size of a basketball)  
"It's the wireless transmission of truth  
And it's a shocking real story of a banker and you  
And if the people knew you stopped me from making power free  
They would curse the con Edison with every utility!" I extinguished the ball to amplify my point. Every cheered, apparently nobody thought someone white could rap that well.

I sat down, now utterly exhausted.

"Last verbal dare for me, I'm all tuckered out! Now who will be my next victim?" My eyes scanned the small group

"Leah."

"Dare!"

"Sing a duet with Riley." I had it all planned out. She blushed a deep shade of red and glanced over at Riley, who was doing the exact same thing.

"Um, uh, ok." She got up and Luke handed her two microphones.

_Italics: Leah_

**Bold: Riley**

Underline: Both

**I'm just a step away,**  
_I'm just a breath away;  
Losing my faith today,_  
Falling off the edge today!

**I am just a man,  
Not superhuman;**  
_I'm not superhuman!_  
**Someone save me from the hate**

**It's just another war,  
Just another family torn;  
**_I'm falling from my faith today!_  
**Just a step from the edge,**  
Just another day in the world we live;

I need a Hero,  
To save me now!  
I need a Hero!  
Save me now!  
I need a Hero,  
To save my life!  
A Hero will save me!  
Just in time!

_I gotta fight today,  
To live another day;  
Speaking my mind today,  
_My voice will be heard today!

**I've gotta make a stand,  
But I am just a man;  
**_I'm not superhuman!  
_**My voice will be heard today!**  
_  
It's just another war,  
Just another family torn;  
My voice will be heard today!_  
**It's just another kill,  
The countdown begins to destroy ourselves!**

I need a Hero,  
To save me now!  
I need a Hero!  
Save me now!  
I need a Hero,  
To save my life!  
A Hero will save me!  
Just in time!  
I need a Hero,  
To save my life!  
I need a Hero!  
Just in time!

**Save me just in time...**_  
Save me just in time..._

Who's gonna fight for what's right,

**Who's gonna help us survive,**  
_We're in the fight of our lives!_  
And we're not ready to die!

**Who's gonna fight for the weak,**  
_Who's gonna make 'em believe_,  
I've got a Hero!  
I've got a Hero!  
Livin' in me!

**I'm gonna fight for what's right,  
Today I'm speaking my mind,  
And if it kills me tonight,**  
_I will be ready to die!_

_A Hero's not afraid to give His life,  
A Hero's gonna save me just in time!  
_  
I need a Hero,  
To save me now!  
I need a Hero!  
Save me now!  
I need a Hero,  
To save my life!  
A Hero'll save me!  
Just in time!

**I need a Hero!  
Who's gonna fight for what's right,  
Who's gonna help us survive!**

_I need a Hero!  
Who's gonna fight for the weak,  
Who's gonna make 'em believe!  
_  
**I need a Hero!  
**_I need a Hero!  
_  
A Hero's gonna save me,  
Just in time!

During the song, I could hear some mutters followed by a giggle coming from behind me. I didn't want to be noticed, so I tilted back on my chair and craned my head back, still barely able to catch the conversation.

"They look-"

"We should-"

"-so cute!"

"Look at-"

"-Get them-"

Ugh! This was so frustrating. I got fed up and walked by the table, real slow. It turns out it was some Aphrodite girls, who invited them?

"We should! They would make such a cute couple!" Were they talking about Riley and Leah? Maybe they... I trailed off. turns out I didn't say it mentally enough.

"Huh?" one girl said, and all three of them whirled around to face me.

"Oh!" The one who spoke turned a bright red and looked down. "Um... hi Sawyer." She added quietly. What the? Th other girls didn't say a word, they just looked down too. Too shocked to answer, I returned to the table, where I got a generous elbow to the ribs form Riley when I sat down.

"Dude!"

"Sawyers got his wheels going!" He added immaturely, pretending to rev a dirtbike. I rolled my eyes at him.

As a joke I jerked Leah's chair back slightly, pretending I was pulling it out from under her right before she sat back down.

"Why would you do that!?" I heard from behind me. I turned around and looked down at a scrawny kid with a long bull cut.

"Are you stupid? What if you accidentally pulled to hard? You'd pull it right out and she would hurt herself!" What was this guys deal? I could tell he was saying it just to try and egg me on, not for Leah's wellbeing. He was probably spoiled, raised to think he can say anything to anyone and get away with it.

"Dude, I don't know what your party is, but I'm here to have a pretty good time. If you looking for a fight, go to Ares Cabin." I said, nearly pleading. I didn't want something to ruin this night.

"If I was looking for a fight, nobody can beat any Ares Camper." He challenged. People started muttering among each other around the table, why wasn't this guy leaving?

"I did." I raised my hand. It would probably cause trouble, but I couldn't help myself, I hoped it would shut him up. "Today at Capture the Flag I beat three."

"I remember you!" He exclaimed, pointing at me. If he was one of the guys I beat this would be PRECIOUS! "You're the little boy who cried when he fell down the pile of pebbles." What?

"I'm not stupid, you were begging for attention. You were starting to cry even before you fell down. Oh." He moved closer to me. "Come near my flag again and I won't hesitate to blow you up again." He whispered in my ear. My eyes widened, he set off explosives while I was laying on them! That selfish, stupid, incompetent, Idiot!

"YOU BASTARD!" I screamed and tackled him onto the floor. I made sure I was on top and started throwing punches.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" I reared back for another punch but I was tackled to the floor by a mountain.

He held both of my arms against the floor. I looked up and the idiot wiped a trickle of blood from his lip.

"Destroy him Joseph!"

"Sure thing Seth!" This was Seth, Ares counselor? Joseph started slugging me, boy could this kid punch. I managed to wiggle out an arm and placed my palm on his forehead, sending a generous shock through his body. He was to shocked (hehe, unintended) to stop me as I got up and kicked him over.

I frantically scanned the crowd (Now in a circle facing me) and yelled.

"Seth, come out you little girl!" I couldn't think, I was way too angry. To think he was stupid enough to let loose explosive right on top off me! I could have died!

I spotted him sneaking out the backdoor and practically swam through the crowd to get to him. I followed him around the corner of the cabin, smack dab into him and two other Ares campers, with Joseph lugging behind. How did he do that? I backed up but I ran into Joseph's chest. (Which wasn't hard, it was pretty big).

I decide it was finally time to kick Ares Cabins butt. They had obviously not been challenged in a long time.

"I'm going to have to teach you a lesson, maybe then you'll stay in line." He motioned for two kids to grab me, probably so he could have free shots at me. I didn't resist as I pulled Ilvis out of my pocket.

"Staff." I stated. It expanded into a two meter long, silver colored, wood staff, trailing along my back and poking above my head.

Without giving them time to think, I crouched down and swung my staff around, hinging it at my waist and aiming at their shins. It knocked over one and bonked another's knee. Afraid of being grabbed, I grabbed it in both hands and swung it behind my head like a helicopter, making a satisfied _crack._

I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed and I turned around to face the first kid I knocked down and Joseph, armed with two swords.

I smiled and happily ordered. "Short Sword." It obliged and I crouched down into position, holding one hand forward and the other hold my sword behind my head, parallel to my shoulders.

Both of them came at me at the same time, hoping to take me down easily, it would be harder than that thanks to Katie's efforts.

With one fluid motion, I stuck my free hand in the dirt and used it to sweep my legs, taking out the unnamed camper. I got up and blocked Joseph horizontally, vertically, then horizontally again. He was making it to easy, only swiping hard in one direction, with Katie's training it was child's play to block. With one last block, I held it at such an angle that it would bounce more, then gave it a hard swipe down, knocking it out of his hand.

I gave him a good pommel-knock on the head and he crumpled. I faced Seth finally to find him unarmed and smiling. Before I could act, he called out.

"Stop it Sawyer, I don't even have a sword!"

"What are you talking about?! You-"

"Sawyer! Drop the weapon!" I heard from behind me. I loosened my stance and faced Philocetes. Mother ******* *** ** * *****.

"Phil! He did the explosive! He-"

"No I didn't! How could I do that, I'm terrible at engineering and working with my hands! Nothing less than a Hephaestus camper could pull that off" I wanted to scream, I hope Phil saw through his lies.

"Sorry Sawyer, but I've already asked some campers, you attacked him. You wouldn't relent until some of his friends defended him, and you attacked them too. And then you chase after him with a weapon!? I expected better from you." WHAT!? Who did he talk to!? Maybe I did overreact a bit but Seth could've killed me!

"Phil, he told me he purposely set off the explosives when I was on the pile! He had his friends hold me down and team up on me!" Seth gave a reply that was equally infuriating, but I wasn't paying enough attention in my anger to even hear it.

Phil pondered it for a moment. "Both of you scrub the hot springs until their spotless and clean the filters. When you're done scrub the stables until their sparkling, everywhere. Do it after supper every day, together."

"WHAT!?" Seth and I said simultaneously.

"It'll give you some time to think about it. Remember, you're both on the same team here."

"But-"I said meekly.

"No Sawyer! Get to bed, now!" His usually kind face contorted into a stern one that didn't fit him, it was just plain weird. I bowed my head and made my way to Hecate Cabin; if I couldn't go back to the party I may as well move to Zeus Cabin today. I knew I had to sometime and now was as good a time as ever. I gathered my various camp clothing but put on the hoodie because of the cold night. I looked at the night sky-roof one last time and went to Zeus Cabin.

Inside Cabin 11, it was surprisingly normal. There was four bunk beds pushed to the walls, its own bathroom, and in every corner it had a mini Tesla Coil. The walls were constantly moving, right now they showed a foggy horizon with the occasional lightning bolt, but I watched as it changed to a heavy storm in a forest. I watched as lightning brought down a tree. The pictures kept changing, and I realized all of these were real. They were showing lightning as it struck all across the world. Too tired to inspect it any more, I pulled two beds together and went to bed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for the dry spell guys! Mega mega mega busy, but here it is! Read on!**

Chapter 12

_Chores. I had to scrub the stables and the tubs until their spotless, and to top it off I have to do it with the only person I hate in the entire camp, Seth._

I grumbled something unintelligible as I got out of my new bed and got dressed.

_At least I've got my own cabin, I've got all the privacy in the world, open space, my own bathroom, I bet half of the campers here would kill for this_. I attempted to optimize.

I checked my schedule which I had pinned to the wall, kayaking and then cooling off at the hot springs until dinner with Hecate and Aphrodite. Awesome! Luke had only briefly told me about the heavy rapids that started at the north-east mountain down to the stables; but they sounded awesome. Today was going to be a pretty good day to start off my official camp summer.

My watch told me I had some time before breakfast, so I indulged myself in my personal shower.

I stood underneath the water and let it sooth my tired muscles. I let out a heavy sigh; put together the intense training, plus the recent party, war games and my fight with the Ares cabin had tuckered me out. It was no wonder I slept like a baby, I was scraping the bottom of the bucket for energy. It was kind of weird showering silently, I was only too used to my Iphone blaring some Gary Allen or Eric Church, but I had lost it. Well, not really.

"_And that's the infirmary, if you're ever injured an Apollo Camper will stitch you up there." My Iphone buzzed in my pocket for about the sixth time. I didn't want to be rude, so when Luke looked away I quickly pulled some of it out of my pocket and turned it on, finding 7 unread Snapchats_

"_Can I see that?" he asked, darn he saw it. Luke smiled broadly, but it seemed insincere. After making sure he meant my phone, I handed it to him cautiously. He promptly hurled it against the ground, where he led his horse to step on it several times._

"_What the hell man!?" I yelled. "That's like a 600$ phone!" _

"_All electronic devices send a signal to monsters. It's like sending constant flares into the air, or yelling 'Here I am! Come to my camp and kill me!"He replied. I know he didn't mean it meanly, but it still hit me with venom. I felt like I was putting the camp in danger with my ignorance, even though I didn't know about the danger._

I turned around and let the water fall around my head, warming my neck and scalp. Again my mind wandered, for some reason it went to Owens warning from the other day. I figured being a big three kid would have its disadvantages; lots of gods would probably automatically hate me.

_Hades? I didn't plan on dying or raising the dead any time soon, so I think I'll be out of his way. Poseidon? That would be harder. I loved the water, plus isn't your body like 80% water anyway? There's no point in trying. Plus, I've done nothing for Ol' Uncle Sie to hate me. It might not be the best idea to call him that... gods I hope he can't hear me because I'm in the water._

That was plenty enough incentive for me to get out and dry myself off as quickly as possible. My watch admitted that I still had at least twenty minutes before breakfast, so I quickly rearranged my cabin for what I was about to do.

"If you will be turned, you will be destroyed!" I yelled in a harsh, raspy voice. I arched my fingertips towards the stolen training dummy and sent 10 thin lightning bolts towards it. Small lightning bolts jolted around his body and the room became to smell metallic. I paused for a moment for more dialogue.

"You are a fool! Only now, at the end, do you understand!" I ended the line loudly and, struggling quite a bit, lifted the training dummy into the air and lightly threw him against the wall.

"Short staff." I muttered under my breath, deciding on the closest thing to a lightsaber.

"Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side!" I stated as I ran towards the dummy, "lightsaber" drawn. "You will pay the price for your lack of vision!" I tuck out my hand and continued zapping him, when the door opened without warning. I hid Ilvis behind my back and stopped running as a feeble attempt to hide what I was doing.

"I-uh-you-"Katie started out surprised, but ended up just plain confused.

"Stupid! _Smack_ Stupid! _Smack _Stupid! _Smack"_ I slammed my hand into my forehead. "Gods I feel like an idiot." I gave up and threw Ilvis on an empty bed.

"Sawyer I'm sorry for, um, interrupting you, I just woke up and I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out a little. Would it be to awkward if I inquired what you were doing?"

I quickly started putting my cabin in order, I had pushed everything to the side for this scene, but with a heavy sigh I eventually responded.

"Episode Six, Return of the Jedi, final scene with Dart Sidous vs. Luke Skywalker.

I started idly stacking firewood. "I'm sorry Katie; you probably think I'm a huge loser now." I started, adding some fuel to the now roaring fireplace.

"Sawyer is no big deal!" she insisted with a smile, somehow thinking this situation was funny.

"C'mon, geeks aren't exactly desirable."

"It's the things you like that make you who you are, and who you are is what we like!" Katie insisted with a smile.

Luckily, the mood quickly lightened. Katie helped me pick out some clothes for today, beige swimming trunks that doubled as shorts, a green camp tee and blue flip flops. I even surprised myself by allowing her to fester over my hair and style it to her perception of what it should be.

She handed a mirror to me, sitting on a stool in the middle of the room. "Wow Katie, I clean up good." I joked because she had done all the work. I inspected my new hairstyle carefully; it flowed towards some pointy spikes at the front. Not an over-gelled, little kid look, but better, like you would see on an Axe commercial.

"No problem, now let's head out." She got up and left, her flip flops announcing her movement. She wore blue beach shorts and an orange tank top over a white one, I'm no fashion expert but I'd say she, er, the outfit looked pretty good.

"Where are you from?" I asked suddenly as we headed towards nowhere in particular.

"What?" she said, taken by surprise.

"I hardly no where anyone is from. I'm from Saskatchewan, by the way."

"Well, I'm from Vancouver, Riley is from Calgary (you'll see him in a cowboy hat from time-to time), you know Luke, Amber is from Quebec City, Owen is a Newfie and Lance and Colton live on the same block in London, Ontario." I whistled, taken aback by the widespread across Canada, but I liked it. I was tired of the Great Lakes Area always representing Canada, and I was glad that we were all a little different.

We were now strolling through the grassy pasture in the space bordered by the War Games Arena, Smithy, Cabins and the Mess Hall. Katie collapsed on a little hill and I layed down beside her, together we enjoyed the sun.

"It's almost too good to be true." I announced. "The camp, it seems like something this good had to have something bad about it, but it doesn't."

"Well Sawyer-"

"Just hear me out," I interrupted, and she did. "We are all welcome, other than Ares Cabin everyone is nice, the food is great, the activities are awesome and run by a great guy, and the scenery is beautiful." I ended by spreading my arms wide. I had always been amazed by the mountains. The rocky points of the earth, lone, snowy sentinels to this beautiful land. There was a carpet of trees covering the bottom halves, and up top you could even see some stubborn snow drifts sticking out. I loved British Columbia.

"Sawyer you, oh never mind." She said it almost like it would ruin the mood if she continued, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get that out of my head. The breakfast heron broke the tension. I eagerly got up and ran to the Mess hall, the smell of fresh waffles already leaking out.

"Wait up!" Katie insisted as she ran after me. I was the first person there, slipping into the Zeus table to find a plate of waffles already waiting for me. I wasted no time scarfing them down, not caring for most manners. Eventually, everyone else filed in. Seth shot me a death glare from the Ares table, but I tried to ignore it. I was on my last waffle when Phil began the announcements.

"Good morning everyone! We have a busy day today! Before I announce activities, there are some... other matters at hand." Everyone looked up eagerly. "Tonight, at the combat ring, will be the funeral of our fallen demigod, Nathan Rolleston." The sound of my knife hitting the cement floor echoed throughout the Mess Hall.

Everyone instinctively turned towards me. Everybody staring at me, waiting for me reaction to his mention. Don't think Nathan had slipped my mind, I held it in during the day but at night, I cried, every single night.

_Nathan, gods Nathan didn't deserve to die, that damn Berserker._

_Nathan isn't dead, no he is at his house, drinking chocolate milk and dipping Oreo's in it. He's flipping through the sports channels, looking for something interesting. No, no, no._

All of my emotions came back to me in a flood. I flew out of my seat and stormed out of the Mess Hall, very aware that all eyes were on me.

Tears started flooding down my face again, my feet started to find their own direction and I let them.

I imagined my emotions as a cup. Big events like Nathan dying filled it, when you thought about it and didn't hold anything back; you let the cup spill out a little bit and cry. Or you can keep the water level low and put on a brave face.

I just knocked over the cup, spilling all of my emotions out.

I wiped my eyes on my shoulder, sobbing into it.

_Nathan, Nathan is what I lived for! Nathan was me a part of me than I was._

I found myself walking through the wide stable doors, my eyes landed on Charlie, recognizing him from my first day. I quickly brought him out and saddled him, and before I knew it I was galloping south.

The South-west Mountain quickly loomed above me. I would climb it.

Yeah, I will climb it to a ledge and sort everything out.

"Thanks buddy." I commented, sliding sideways off of Charlie. I looked at the sloping rock face and nodded my head.

**Katie's POV**

My battle instincts shot my head towards The Zeus table before I could register what the noise was.

I saw Sawyer sitting there, his knife on the floor, his fork loaded with waffle half-way to his mouth. He had opened it to take a bite, but he slowly closed it and dropped his fork on the table.

I looked around, absolutely everyone was staring at Sawyer, and I felt really bad for him. It was bad enough to have it mentioned, but having everyone staring at you, reminding you that you were the epicenter of sorrow relating to it, that was worse.

Out of nowhere Sawyer shot up and sped off, I could already hear his sobs in the eerie silence. Everyone expected it, and accepted that.

"Drama queen." Seth muttered under his breath from the tale behind me.

"Shut your mouth!" I scolded at him, standing up. Seth stared at me, and then looked down and continued eating. Well he's a piece of work, all talk and no action, and he has the nerve to call Sawyer a drama queen!

Everyone suddenly burst into murmurs and whispers, summing up the situation in their own little groups.

"Where do you think he's gone?" Riley asked, walking up to me. Luke and Rebecca approached from behind, joining in.

"To sort out his emotions." Luke said almost sadly, looking down. We all knew he knew him best so we listened intently. "I know him; he can go overboard when he is faced with change or emotions, like when Zeus scribbled out his holy plate.

"I'm looking for him." Rebecca stated almost protectively.

"Me too." I shot in, not wanting to look like I didn't care about him. Amber silently approached , very quietly.

"No." Riley discouraged with a shake of the head. "Leave him be, we don't know what he's going through. The only thing we can do for him is to give him time, so let's grant him that."

I looked over at Amber and noticed the hurt look on her face. Only last year, her boyfriend of a year died in a car accident. For over 3 months she showed no emotions, she was in many ways a zombie, going throughout her schedule without thought or emotion, it was terrible; and I remembered that summer well.

"So don't expect him back for awhile?" I looked at Luke.

"It could be an hour, maybe a day. I would guess awhile; Riley and Sawyer were Abbot and Costello."

_Peanut butter and jelly._ I thought, but I didn't say it, that would seem to humorous for right now.

"If he isn't back by supper, I'm looking for him, he needs to eat." Rebecca stated firmly. _Jeez girl, you don't own him._ I quickly shooed those thought out of my head.

"Guys." I head weakly from behind me. I turned to see Leah sitting there awkwardly, scratching her foot against the floor. "Do you think Sawyer will be ok?"

"He'll be fine, he just needs time." Riley offered, she let a small smile through.

"Ok, I'm just worried about him, you now?" Leah looked a little sadder now, it was obvious she cared about him, and we all heard of the huge favor he did her yesterday.

"He'll be fine." Riley assured, putting a hand on her shoulder, which she obviously enjoyed.

"Ok, thanks guys." She smiled. She whirled around suddenly, as if seeing something we couldn't. "That's my table calling me, see you guys!"

Phil tried, keyword tried, to get everyone back to their table and finish announcements.

"We better get back to breakfast." Amber spoke quietly for the first time.

"See you at kayaking!" riley called out as he walked away, when Amber tried to leave I grabbed her lightly on the arm.

"Go before Rebecca, I think that you can..." I wanted to say relate, but I settled on "relate to him best." Amber gave a small nod of the head and walked away.


End file.
